Judge approves Texas legislature's effort to stay execution in shaken baby case

HOUSTON (AP) — A final attempt to stop Texas from doing so Execution of an autistic man in one shaken baby suitcase The debate dragged on into the final hours of Thursday evening, when a judge agreed to an extraordinary maneuver by lawmakers to delay the lethal injection while the U.S. Supreme Court cleared the way for it to proceed.

The judge granted a request from a Texas House committee for a temporary restraining order to delay the execution of Robert Roberson so that the condemned man can testify about his case at a legislative hearing next week.

Roberson was scheduled to become the first person in the United States to be executed on a murder conviction Thursday evening that involved a diagnosis of murder Shaken baby syndrome. Lawmakers on the committee, both Republicans and Democrats, are part of a diverse coalition who maintain Roberson was innocent in the 2002 death of his 2-year-old daughter and was convicted based on flawed scientific evidence.

The Texas Attorney General's Office was expected to quickly appeal District Judge Jessica Mangrum's order to the state's highest criminal appeals court, which had previously rejected multiple requests from Roberson to stay his execution.

The order was issued around the same time that the U.S. Supreme Court refused to stop the planned execution, despite Justice Sonia Sotomayor urging Texas Gov. Greg Abbott in a letter to grant a 30-day stay.

Roberson, 57, was convicted of killing his daughter Nikki Curtis in the East Texas city of Palestine. Roberson has long maintained his innocence, supported by some notable Republican lawmakers, Texas GOP megadonor and conservative activist Doug Deason and the case's lead investigator. Roberson's lawyers and some medical experts say his daughter died not from abuse but from complications related to pneumonia.

“He is an innocent man and we are on the verge of killing him for something he didn't do,” said Brian Wharton, the lead Palestinian police investigator who investigated Curtis' death.

Lawyers are calling on the Texas governor and Supreme Court to intervene

Roberson's lawyers waited to see whether Abbott would grant Roberson a one-time reprieve of 30 days. That's the only action Abbott can take in the case, the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles said Wednesday rejected Roberson's request for clemency.

The board voted unanimously 6-0 not to commute Roberson's death sentence to life in prison or delay his execution. All board members are appointed by the governor. The parole board has recommended a pardon in a death row case only six times since the state resumed executions in 1982.

In his nearly decade as governor, Abbott has only prevented one imminent execution, in 2018, when he spared life Thomas Whitakerwhose father had asked that his son not be killed. The father had survived a shooting planned by Whitaker.

“We pray that Governor Abbott does everything in his power to prevent the tragic, irreversible mistake of executing an innocent man,” Gretchen Sween, one of Roberson’s attorneys, said in a statement.

An Abbott spokesman did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment.

Bipartisan committee takes extraordinary steps to stop execution

The Texas House Criminal Justice Committee held a daylong meeting Wednesday on the Roberson case. Surprisingly, at the end of the hearing, the committee issued a subpoena for Roberson to testify next week.

The Texas Department of Criminal Justice (TDCJ) is aware of the subpoena and is working with the Texas Attorney General's Office on next steps, said Amanda Hernandez, a spokeswoman for TDCJ.

During its meeting in Austin, the committee heard testimony about Roberson's case and whether a law created in 2013 that allows prison inmates to challenge their convictions based on new scientific evidence was ignored in Roberson's case.

Anderson County District Attorney Allyson Mitchell, whose office prosecuted Roberson, told the committee that a trial took place in 2022 where Roberson's lawyers presented their new evidence to a judge, who dismissed their claims. Mitchell said the prosecution's case shows that Curtis was abused by her father.

“Based on the totality of the evidence, a murder has taken place here. Mr. Roberson took the life of his almost three-year-old daughter,” Mitchell said.

Most members of the committee are part of a bipartisan group of more than 80 state lawmakers, including at least 30 Republicans, who had asked the parole board and Abbott to stop the execution.

The execution puts shaken baby syndrome in the spotlight

Roberson's planned execution has reignited debate over shaken baby syndrome, known medically as abusive head trauma.

His lawyers, as well as Texas lawmakers, medical experts and others, including best-selling authors John GrishamThey claim his conviction is based on flawed and now outdated scientific evidence. The diagnosis refers to a severe brain injury caused by a child's head being injured by shaking or other violent impact, such as being thrown against a wall or thrown onto the floor.

Roberson's supporters do not deny that head injuries and other injuries from child abuse are real. But they say doctors misdiagnosed Curtis' injuries as being related to shaken baby syndrome and that new evidence showed the girl died as a result of severe pneumonia.

Roberson's lawyers say he was wrongfully arrested and later convicted after taking his daughter to a hospital. It is said she fell out of bed at Roberson's house after being seriously ill for a week.

Roberson's lawyers have also suggested that his autism, which was undiagnosed at the time of his daughter's death, was used against him as authorities became suspicious of him because he had no emotions about what happened to her. Autism affects the way people communicate and interact with others.

The American Academy of PediatricsAccording to other medical organizations and prosecutors, the diagnosis of shaken baby syndrome is valid and doctors look at all sorts of things, including any medical conditions, when determining whether injuries are due to it.

Roberson's scheduled execution would come less than a month after Missouri's execution Marcellus Williams amid ongoing questions about his guilt and whether his death sentence should have been commuted to life in prison instead. Williams was convicted in the 1998 killing of Lisha Gayle, a social worker and former St. Louis Post-Dispatch reporter.

Roberson's execution is scheduled to take place the same day Alabama is scheduled to be executed Derrick Dearmanconvicted of killing five people with an ax and a gun in a 2016 drug-fueled rampage.

___

Follow Juan A. Lozano on https://x.com/juanlozano70.