Robert Roberson, the condemned man whose execution was halted late Thursday because of an unprecedented legal gambit by Texas lawmakers, is expected to appear in person Monday at a legislative hearing in Austin, his legal representatives said. Roberson, who was set to become the first person in the U.S.
to be executed for a “shaken baby” death , narrowly averted the execution chamber after the lawmakers, with only hours to spare, obtained a temporary restraining order from a district court judge that stopped the execution. The lawmakers, members of a state House committee, had issued a subpoena late Wednesday for Roberson to testify in his case as it relates to a 2013 “junk science” law that allows Texas inmates to potentially challenge convictions based on advances in forensic science. The subpoena was issued to help buy more time for Roberson, who has bipartisan support.
Roberson, 57, has maintained his innocence in the 2002 death of his 2-year-old daughter, Nikki. At the time, doctors and law enforcement quickly concluded she was killed as a result of a violent shaking episode, leading to his conviction at trial, but Roberson’s defense says new understanding of so-called shaken baby syndrome shows that other medical conditions can be factors in a child’s death, as they believe it was in Nikki’s. The Office of the Attorney General quickly appealed the district court judge’s temporary injunction to the state’s highest criminal court, which agreed with allow.
