This man is days away from being executed for a crime a lot of evidence suggests he did not commit. His name is Robert Roberson. “Roberson has spent more than two decades on death row.” “He is set to be executed in less than two weeks.” It’s 2002. Robert Roberson had a 2-year-old daughter named Nikki. And she was sick. She had a high fever and pneumonia. He says he woke up one night and she’d fallen out of bed. He comforted her, put her back to sleep. But when he woke up in the morning, she had turned blue. So he took her to the emergency room. She died a day later. Nikki had three symptoms. And at that point, if a child had those symptoms, the only explanation was shaken baby syndrome. “Roberson was arrested that day. During his time on death row since 2003, Roberson has maintained his innocence.” Now there’s a lot of evidence pointing to why Roberson needs a new trial. Some courts have called the way that shaken baby syndrome has been used in court junk science. At this point, 40 parents and caregivers have been exonerated for convictions that were based on shaken baby syndrome. And last year, the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals actually overturned another shaken baby conviction. It had the same pediatrician testifying as in Roberson’s case. Here’s a quote from the court: ‘The admissible scientific testimony at trial today would likely justify an acquittal.’ When Nikki died, the doctors and the lead detective, Brian Wharton, suspected Robert Roberson in part because he didn’t seem emotional. What they didn’t know was that he had autism. “It’s hard to express myself in certain things and stuff.” And sometimes people with autism have trouble expressing their emotions in the way most people do. This has become a harrowing case for Brian Wharton. Even he now believes that Roberson is innocent. And he actually went to death row to ask for Roberson’s forgiveness. “Let me just say, I am so sorry that you’re here. And so sorry that you are still here.” “Yes, sir.” “It’s our failure.” If all of this wasn’t distressing enough, there’s actually also new evidence in this case. In 2018, a box of missing evidence that had Nikki’s CT scans in it was found for the first time. After that, a lot of doctors looked at this case, and they concluded that Nikki actually died of severe pneumonia, which the doctors missed in 2002. She was on medication that made it even harder for her to breathe. The doctors also say that she had a rare blood-clotting disease, which could have led to her death. Roberson’s lawyers are asking for a new trial. But so far, the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals has not ruled on Roberson’s new evidence of innocence. Instead, a lower court granted the Texas attorney general’s request to set an execution date on Oct. 16. That’s where we are now. This case has gotten all tangled up in local Texas politics. Ken Paxton, the attorney general, is pushing really hard for Roberson’s execution. And some of the Texas legislators, who are on the other side, were also involved in the impeachment inquiry into Ken Paxton. These two things are colliding in a way that is really not helping Mr. Roberson. It’s in the power of the governor of Texas, Greg Abbott, to stop this execution. He could pause the scheduled execution date for 30 days to make sure that the courts rule in time before Mr. Roberson is executed. And if he doesn’t, Mr. Roberson will die on Oct. 16. He would be the first person executed in the United States based on the diagnosis of shaken baby syndrome.
