Some say shaken baby syndrome is “junk” science.
The former detective who initially helped convict Roberson now says he believes investigators succumbed to confirmation bias.
An appeals court has suspended the execution of a man who was scheduled to be the first person in the United States to be put to death for shaken baby syndrome.
The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals handed down the decision Thursday, Oct. 9, one week before Robert Roberson’s scheduled execution date for the death of his 2-year-old daughter Nikki.
The appeals court ruled that Roberson deserved a new hearing to present evidence about shaken baby syndrome, which has been increasingly discredited in recent years.
Mr. Roberson’s assertion of innocence has garnered unprecedented support from Texas and across the country, including dozens of Republican lawmakers, the lead detective on his case and best-selling author John Grisham. The state attorney general’s office is pushing for the death penalty, arguing that Nikki suffered blunt force injuries beyond shaken baby syndrome.
The court rejected this, writing that the government’s case is “inextricably intertwined with shaken baby syndrome, which was medically understood more than 20 years ago.”
Because of our “deep understanding” of shaken baby syndrome, the court found that “certain assumptions and conclusions once believed to be true may not be true.”
“The death sentence is clearly final and, once carried out, hindsight is useless,” the court said. “We need to demand the highest standards of accuracy so that we can act with some degree of certainty.”
Gretchen Sween, Roberson’s attorney, said in a statement that she looks forward to another day in court to present evidence that Roberson’s daughter “died from natural and accidental causes, not from shaking or other abuse.”
“Robert loved Nikki, and her death was a tragedy. That horror was compounded by Robert’s wrongful conviction, which devastated the entire family,” Sween said. “We are confident that an objective review of the science and medical evidence will prove that no crime occurred.”
The Texas Attorney General’s Office, which scheduled Roberson’s execution last year following another stay, did not immediately respond to USA TODAY’s request for comment on the ruling.
What was Robert Roberson convicted of?
Roberson was convicted of killing his daughter Nikki in 2002 at their home in Palestine, a small city in east Texas.
Ms. Roberson reported hearing Nikki crying and realizing she had fallen out of bed. After soothing her, they both went back to sleep. Later, when Ms. Roberson woke up again, she noticed that Nicky was not breathing and her lips were blue. In the emergency room, doctors observed symptoms consistent with brain death, and he was pronounced dead the next day.
Doctors and investigators at the time jumped to the conclusion that Nikki died of shaken baby syndrome, even though Nikki had several serious medical conditions. Nikki had pneumonia in both lungs, undiagnosed sepsis, and was taking prescription opioids, which are currently prohibited for children.
The jury sentenced Roberson to death and sentenced him to death.
The lead detective on the case: “We were wrong.”
Brian Wharton, the lead investigator in the Roberson case, told USA TODAY that confirmation bias and several misconceptions led him to believe Roberson killed his daughter.
As an example, when Roberson took Nikki to the hospital, nurses, doctors, and investigators observed that he seemed emotionless, something Wharton considered at the time to be a red flag but now understands to be common behavior in autistic people like Roberson.
Investigators rejected Roberson’s account that Nikki fell out of bed that night, and Wharton said medical staff did not disclose any other symptoms she had.
“We were wrong,” he said. “The system misidentified you because you had incomplete and incorrect information.”
Since then, Wharton has personally apologized to Roberson and has met monthly on Texas’ Death Row in Livingston, just north of Houston.
“We talk about our lives, our faith, our families and our hopes,” Wharton said. “He’s my friend.”
Republican lawmakers have been fighting for Roberson.
Among those fighting for Roberson’s reprieve in recent years are conservative state lawmakers who support the death penalty but believe in Roberson’s innocence. Last year, they succeeded in stopping Roberson’s execution, but were stunned when it was postponed this year without a new hearing.
Two Republican congressmen, Reps. Jeff Leach and Lacey Hull, met with Roberson on Wednesday, Oct. 8, at the prison where he is being held north of Houston. Leach told USA TODAY that he hugged Roberson for about 30 seconds and prayed while holding hands in a circle with Hull, two Democrats, a pastor and the assistant director.
He expressed frustration that executions were still scheduled as of Wednesday, saying, “There seems to be a murderous intent in this execution.”
The Republican said Roberson’s request stands out among the many requests that lawmakers receive from death row inmates to reconsider cases.
“It’s not just one thing that was wrong, it’s not just one bit of evidence, it’s not just one witness whose testimony has been discredited, it’s been at literally every step of the way from the moment he took her to the emergency room to this day,” Leach said. “This system has failed him and Nikki at virtually every turn. I’ve never seen anything like it.”
Last minute grace: How Texas lawmakers stopped Robert Roberson’s execution in 2024
State officials have supported the conviction and execution.
The Texas Attorney General’s Office supported Roberson’s conviction and death penalty in multiple court filings, arguing that Nikki suffered injuries beyond what the shaking could have caused, that shaken baby syndrome is not junk science, and that the level of involvement by lawmakers in the case was inappropriate.
Mr. Roberson “brutally murdered his own child,” the attorney general’s office alleged in one court filing. “What we can infer from the evidence is that the night Nikki died, she was crying because her mother wasn’t there. When she wouldn’t stop crying, Roberson shook little Nikki to make her stop crying, as he had done many times before.”
They cited testimony from two girls who were at Roberson’s home and said they had earlier seen Roberson wave to Nikki.
Roberson’s attorney, Sween, countered that the state’s position is a lie and a manipulation of facts, and that it stems from politicians trying to be tough on crime for their constituents.
“The question should not be about who can incite people, but what the objective medical evidence shows,” she said. “So if you think there’s still a case, Texas, why don’t you get a new trial? Why are they putting him on a stretcher?”
Last year, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton posted in a social media thread that Leach was among those who had lied about Roberson’s case, criticizing the “eleventh-hour unilateral extrajudicial stunt” to block Roberson’s execution.
“A small number of legislators grossly interfered with the judicial system in disregard of the separation of powers established in the state constitution,” Paxton wrote. “They created a constitutional crisis because of a man who beat his 2-year-old daughter to death.”
What is happening now?
The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals remanded the case to the trial court for a new trial. It’s unclear when that will happen, but it could be months or years.
Amanda Lee Myers is a senior crime reporter who covers executions for USA TODAY. Follow her on X at @amandaleeusat.
