Last year, Robert Roberson’s life was saved after a furious effort by a bipartisan group of Texas Senators – developments rarely seen in hardliner conditions
“We got it wrong,” says the former detective in the administered case.
A former Texas detective says investigators fell into a trap of confirmation bias and says death row inmate Robert Roberson is an innocent man.
A Texas judge rescheduled the execution of a death row inmate who won last year’s rare execution as prison officials were poised to give a deadly injection.
Judge Austin Reeve Jackson on Wednesday set the execution of Robert Roberson on October 16th, almost a year after the Texas Supreme Court granted him stay on October 17th, 2024 on his last execution.
Roberson, 58, is jailed at the death of his two-year-old daughter Nicky in 2002 despite strong evidence suggesting he is innocent. Roberson was convicted based on swinging baby syndrome.
With hours remaining last year, Roberson’s life was saved following the fierce efforts by a bipartisan group of Texas Senators. The Texas Supreme Court intervened even if the Texas Amnesty and Parole Board refused to recommend Roberson’s leniency and the U.S. Supreme Court refused to stop it.
Judge Reeve said that at the request of Texas Attorney General General Ken Paxton, the Criminal Appeal Court “now further proves Roberson’s innocence,” his defense attorney Gretchen Sween said.
“The Texans should be furious that the court has scheduled an execution date for an obviously innocent man,” Sween said in a statement. “Everyone who took the time to see evidence of Robert Roberson’s innocence, including a lead detective, one of the ju umpires, a highly qualified expert and a bipartisan group of Texas legislators, came to the same conclusion. Nicky’s death was a terrible tragedy. Robert didn’t kill her.”
The Attorney General’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment on USA Today on Wednesday.
Here’s what you need to know about the incident:
Detective who pursued Robert Roberson: “I was wrong”
Roberson was convicted in 2002 of killing his daughter at his home in Palestine, East Texas City.
Roberson hears Nikki’s scream and reports that he discovers she has fallen from bed. After soothing her he said, they both returned to sleep. Later, when Roberson woke up again, he discovered that Nicky was not breathing, and her lips turned blue. In the emergency room, doctors observed symptoms consistent with brain death and were asserted that she was dead the next day.
Doctors and investigators at the time jumped to the conclusion that Nicky had died of baby syndrome, which caused him to sway, but the infant had pneumonia in both lungs. She currently had an existing condition in which opioids are banned for children, and an undiagnosed sepsis.
Shaked Baby Syndrome has been exposed for the majority as junk science, and the chief investigator in Roberson’s case told USA Today’s The Exterpt podcast that he lost his investigation.
“Robert was a completely innocent man and we were looking for something wrong, so we were totally wrong,” Brian Wharton said.
“I was wrong. I didn’t see Robert. There was no voice for him,” Wharton said. “I can tell you now, he is a good guy. He is a kind man. He is an elegant man. And he did not do the Texas state, so I blamed him.”
What led to Robert Roberson’s previous stay?
Five Republicans and four Democrats on the Texas House Committee on Criminal Law issued Roberson’s subpoena just before last year’s execution, and made extraordinary efforts to stop it.
Democrat Texas Rep. Joe Moody and Republican Jeff Leach led Roberson’s resignation charges and issued a statement after his life was spared.
“For over 20 years, Robert Roberson has spent 23.5 hours a day in solitary confinement in a cell that is not bigger than most Texans’ closets, and is striving to hear it,” they said. “And while some courts may have failed him, the Texas home isn’t.”
The move comes after a failed effort by a bipartisan group of 84 Texas legislators. He urged the state’s Commission on Pardonment and Parole to recommend Roberson’s tolerance.
The Clemency Committee rejected their request.
Texas death row inmate Robert Roberson has been suspended
A Texas judge suspended the execution of death row inmate Robert Roberson and approved a request from state legislators to give him testimony at the hearing.
About 30 scientific and medical experts explained that if Nikki died today, “no doctor would consider swinging baby syndrome a “shaking” because “now considered an exclusion diagnosis.”
“Nicki’s pneumonia, the extreme level of dangerous drugs discovered in the system during an autopsy, and falling out of bed explains why Nikki died,” the expert wrote.
Also Fighting for Roberson’s Saving: A near-death penalty group including Parent Rights, Autism Advocates, Faith Leader, Innocence Project, and bestselling author John Grisham called Nikki’s death “a tragedy, not a crime.”
What’s going to happen now?
“As Roberson’s lawyer told USA Today he would again ask for Roberson’s execution stay, all evidence that proves he is innocent can be reviewed by the court without any pressure on the impending execution date.”
Roberson will have many opportunities in the courts to stop the state’s generous committee and government officials from enforcement again.
