Robert Roberson
A second attempt by Texas lawmakers to bring a man on death row to the State Capitol over doubts that he killed his 2-year-old daughter failed again Friday, dimming the likelihood of Robert Roberson testifying publicly after a last-minute subpoena halted his execution.
Roberson, 58, was convicted of killing his daughter in 2003. Prosecutors argued that he violently shook his daughter back and forth, causing severe head trauma in what's called shaken baby syndrome. Roberson was scheduled to die by lethal injection in October and, if his execution moves forward, would be the first person in the U.S. to be executed over a conviction tied to shaken baby syndrome, a diagnosis that medical experts have questioned.
The latest unsuccessful effort to have Roberson testify comes after Texas' attorney general asked a court to block a second legislative subpoena issued by lawmakers, who are running out of time until the legislature reconvenes in January and the subpoena expires.
Democratic State Rep. Joe Moody, D - El Paso, one of the lawmakers who led the effort to halt Roberson’s execution, said Friday the OAG's position that the jurisprudence committee hadn't engaged with the TDCJ in a good-faith discussion was a lie and "filled with dishonest and factually disprovable claims."
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"This is the dishonesty that I'm referring to. Because these are just facts, these are emails and public record. This is what they filed in Polk County. This is a lie. We have been attempting to try to find accommodation since October and they have never responded to anything meaningfully because they don't want to have Robert here," Moody said. "And it's very clear. The purpose of this filing, you can tell what it is. It's crystal clear because they are asking for a hearing on Jan. 13. They have clearly shown what they intend to do which is to run out the clock so that the public and this legislature can't hear from Robert."
When the new legislative session begins on Jan. 14, 2025, the House committee loses its jurisdiction and power.
A bipartisan group of lawmakers, civil rights advocates and medical experts have expressed doubts over the shaken baby diagnosis used to convict Roberson and say his daughter likely died from symptoms of severe pneumonia.
The state's Republican attorney general, Ken Paxton, has staunchly defended Roberson’s conviction and said the science around shaken baby syndrome has not changed enough to absolve his guilt.
In the court order, Paxton’s office said that “it is not the role of the Legislature to adjudicate offenses” and that lawmakers overstepped their power when they halted his execution.
State Rep. Jeff Leach, R - Plano, made a request that Paxton or a member of his office appear before the committee before the new session begins next month.
"I feel strongly that, members, we have not come this far to only come this far. And we owe it to Mr. Roberson, to the people of Texas and we owe it to our fellow House members as we head into a new legislative session to get answers to some of these lingering questions as to what the attorney general's office can and cannot do when it comes to interfering with the legislative branch's constitutional authority," Leach said. "He can even do so remotely. He doesn't have to come here to the Capitol. The attorney general, I've seen, appear on FOX News from all over the world. So, if he can appear on FOX News from overseas then he can appear in front of this committee from overseas as well."
The Texas House Committee on Criminal Jurisprudence issued their first subpoena for Roberson to testify one day before his scheduled execution — an unprecedented legal maneuver that successfully staved off his execution.
A new execution date has not been set.
Texas has a “junk science law” that allows people wrongfully convicted on dubious science to have their sentences overturned. The House committee said they wanted Roberson to testify about this law and believed it had not worked as intended for his case. Criminal justice advocates said the state's highest criminal court has deliberately misinterpreted the law.
The Texas Supreme Court ruled in November that although the subpoena was valid, it cannot be used to circumvent a scheduled execution.
Republican Gov. Greg Abbott has maintained that Roberson was rightfully convicted. The Texas Board of Pardons and Parole voted unanimously not to recommend him clemency in October.
