‘Deeply appalled,' Defense for Texas death row inmate responds to AG remarks

The case of Texas death row inmate Robert Roberson has reached new levels of scrutiny as responses continue over recent statements from the office of Attorney General Ken Paxton.

In the latest move by Roberson’s defense, his team released an extensive rebuttal to claims from Paxton’s office that affirmed the prosecution’s case against Roberson.

Paxton commented for the first time since Roberson’s execution was put on hold. He said he wanted to “set the record straight about the murder case that landed Roberson on death row and the subpoena that put a halt to last week’s execution.”

Within hours, death row inmate Robert Roberson’s defense released a statement calling recent remarks from Paxton a “gross misrepresentation” of the case.

In an interview with NBC 5 on Thursday, attorney Gretchen Sween had strong words.

“The only word I can come with is deeply appalled,” said Sween.

Roberson was convicted in the 2002 death of his two-year-old daughter Nikki.

Sween and the defense team laid out a point-by-point rebuttal, citing CT scans, EMS records, and evidence collected from the scene.

Part of the rebuttal reads:

“In multiple expert reports, testimony during the post-conviction hearing in 2021, and recent testimony before the House Criminal Jurisprudence Committee, highly specialized medical experts have explained exactly how Nikki died as a result of pneumonia, exacerbated by improper medications…”

Late Wednesday evening Paxton had released records to “correct falsehoods” in what he called “eleventh-hour, one-sided stunts,” saying Roberson murdered his two-year-old daughter Nikki.

Paxton went on to say, “Robert Roberson murdered two-year-old Nikki by beating her so brutally that she ultimately died." He also included links to the autopsy report.

Jeff Newberry is the University of Houston’s Legal Clinic Supervisor and Death Penalty clinic instructor. He said the case has taken somewhat of an uncommon turn.

“I’ve never seen anything like this. I’ve been doing death penalty work in Texas for 14 years now and I can’t remember a case in which the AG’s office issued a statement like that. So, it’s highly unusual,” said Newberry.

Newberry said the facts at the center of how the case landed here started with the visit to the ER back in 2002.

“They noticed that she had three symptoms. She had the subdural bleeding; she had the brain swelling and she had the retinal hemorrhaging. And so back in 2000-2001 if a baby came in with those three things called “the triad” then the diagnosis was all the way shaken baby syndrome,” he said.

It has been pointed out by his defense that Roberson has bipartisan support from lawmakers who’ve heard say they’ve heard days of testimony from experts.

State Representative Joe Moody chimed in, saying his committee heard days of testimony and Paxton hadn’t presented any new facts. Moody promised a full statement by Thursday.

Governor Greg Abbott also weighed in earlier this week. In an amicus brief, he said the state house committee “stepped out of line” by crafting and unprecedented plan to spare Roberson's life by serving him with a subpoena to appear before the committee on Monday.