Texas death row inmate Robert Roberson’s execution is on hold after a series of legal challenges. Texas lawmakers, the Innocence Project and author John Grisham have been pushing the state to take a new look at Roberson’s case. NBC 5’s Maria Guerrero takes a look at what’s next.
Following an extraordinary legal battle and the Texas Supreme Court issuing a stay of execution Thursday, death row inmate Robert Roberson is not only alive, but he is preparing to walk into the Texas Capitol in Austin to testify before lawmakers.
“What we saw last night, this just doesn't happen,” said Vanessa Potkin, Roberson’s co-counsel and Director of Special Litigation at the Innocence Project. “Robert's execution was stopped because he has been subpoenaed to testify before a hearing that is taking place before the Texas House Committee on Criminal Jurisprudence on Monday.”
Official word came late Thursday night in Huntsville: Roberson’s life would be spared for now.
He was in his jail cell when officials notified him.
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“He was shocked to say the least. He praised God and he thanked his supporters,” said Amanda Hernandez, spokeswoman for the Texas Department of Criminal Justice.
In 2003, a jury convicted Roberson in the death of his 2-year-old daughter, Nikki Curtis.
The Palestine man took his toddler to the hospital in 2002, informing staff she had fallen from her bed.
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Police later arrested Roberson, accusing him of murdering his daughter by ‘shaken baby syndrome.’
Roberson’s attorneys say doctors, police and Anderson County prosecutors rushed to diagnose the child’s death on ‘shaken baby syndrome,’ without investigating her medical history which included multiple trips to the hospital.
Roberson would be the first execution in the U.S. related to the controversial diagnosis, which medical experts now say has been often misdiagnosed.
Roberson’s legal team and medical experts argue evolving medical evidence now proves the chronically ill baby girl died, not of abuse, but of complications from severe pneumonia, sepsis, illnesses made worse by medicines that have since stopped being prescribed to children.
Over the years, attorneys and supporters have tried to overturn Roberson’s conviction or at least secure a new trial to present new evidence they believe will exonerate him.
Dr. Francis Green, a lung pathologist, who reviewed the case and the child’s medical records, testified earlier this week before the House committee that he is confident Curtis died of natural causes related to bacterial pneumonia and not shaken baby syndrome. Green also sharing that thanks to medical research over the past two decades, “we are finding that these types of pneumonia are relatively common in the so-called shaken baby deaths and that was not known at the time of her death, this is fairly recently discovered,” said Green.
Asked by a lawmaker if he believes the child was ‘murdered,’ Green responded, “No. No. This was a natural death and cause of death was the viral and bacterial pneumonias that led to her death.”
Roberson also finding allies in conservatives like State Rep. Jeff Leach of Plano, who supports the death penalty.
Leach and El Paso State Rep. Joe Moddy helped successfully argue their petition to subpoena Roberson to testify before their committee on Monday.
A Travis County judge ruled in favor of having Roberson testify Monday, essentially meaning he could not be put to death on Thursday.
After the state appealed the decision, the Texas Supreme Court issued a stunning ruling Thursday evening, preventing the execution from taking place.
All we've been working to do is to push the pause button to make sure that the state doesn't move forward with an irreparable execution of a potentially innocent man,” said Leach on Friday. “We look forward to hearing his side of the story and welcoming him to the Texas House of Representatives on Monday.”
The committee is preparing to hear directly from Roberson on Monday, as lawmakers continue to investigate a state law that is meant to help prisoners convicted based on science that is later proven to be wrong.
“If it’s not being applied to Robert's case, the law is not being applied in accordance with the intent of the law,” said Potnik.
Leach says the courts have ‘failed’ Roberson.
“We believe that our junk science law, which we've led the nation in passing, is being circumvented and ignored and violated by the judicial branch and so we're hopeful that Mr. Robertson's testimony in this case will lead to substantial amendments to that law, improvements to that law,” he said.
Because this is unprecedented territory, what happens beyond Monday is not exactly clear.
Potnik and Leach say it is possible the committee could pave the way for Roberson to be able to present new evidence in court.
A new execution date has not been set.
“I believe strongly that the system has failed,” said Leach. “It's incumbent upon us as policymakers to speak out and to step up when we see something like this happening.”
A live video broadcast of this hearing will be available here.
