Robert Roberson’s Stayed Execution: 5 Things to Know

Texas’ highest legal court docket has halted the execution of Robert Roberson, who had been scheduled to die by way of deadly injection subsequent week, after being convicted of killing his 2-year-old daughter Nikki Curtis.

Roberson’s was the newest case from Texas to provide a small explosion of stories protection, certainly one of many that includes celebrities and lawmakers arguing that the state was about to execute an harmless particular person. His execution was certainly one of eight scheduled throughout the nation in October, a part of a growth in executions this yr.

Within the coming months, Roberson’s greatest claims — that he was wrongly convicted primarily based on defective scientific testimony — will likely be fought over within the district court docket the place he was sentenced to loss of life, in Palestine, Texas.

I’ve been overlaying Roberson’s case for The Marshall Mission for greater than two years, and have boiled down an important themes within the case, together with what they inform us concerning the loss of life penalty in America immediately.

1. His guilt rests on the shaky science of “shaken child syndrome.”

Roberson was charged with homicide in 2002 after he introduced Nikki to an emergency room in Palestine, Texas. She was unresponsive and turning blue. He thought she’d fallen away from bed, however after she died, a pediatrician and pathologist each advised police she had been shaken.

This was the heyday of billboards and tv adverts warning folks to “by no means, ever shake a child.” On the time, there was a dawning consciousness of the hazard of shaking, and docs identified the syndrome primarily based on indicators like mind swelling and bleeding in key areas.

However within the years since Roberson’s 2003 trial, many docs determined the identical signs might stem from unintended falls and different causes. A brand new group of medical specialists thinks Nikki really died from a tragic mixture of pneumonia, drug issues, and a fall from her mattress. Roberson’s legal professionals used this evaluation to ask the Texas Courtroom of Legal Appeals for a keep of execution. He would have been the primary particular person executed within the U.S. primarily based on a homicide conviction tied to a “shaken child syndrome” analysis.

That is certainly one of numerous instances in recent times the place new science casts doubt on previous convictions. However the loss of life penalty makes the issue much less fixable, as a result of somebody despatched to jail for all times can nonetheless be freed, however you possibly can’t deliver somebody again from the useless.

2. Autism performed a surprisingly large function within the case.

Autism advocates are amongst Roberson’s loudest supporters, arguing his case exhibits how the police and courts can fail autistic folks. When Roberson first arrived on the hospital, he didn’t act distraught in the best way nurses and docs had come to count on of frightened dad and mom. Afterward, his conduct — like pausing to make a sandwich whereas taking police round his home — appeared suspicious to detectives.

However years later, psychologists identified him with autism, and argued that this might clarify a lot of his conduct. “At trial, the prosecution highlighted Roberson’s flat have an effect on, a symptom of his autism,” wrote psychologist Natalie Montfort within the Houston Chronicle final yr. “Jurors have been inspired to guage him as a callous liar.” However his “outward look masked intense misery that he couldn’t categorical.”

A number of years in the past, the lead detective within the case, Brian Wharton, admitted that he had misinterpreted Roberson’s conduct and joined these arguing for his innocence.

3. Roberson was identified as a “psychopath” utilizing a controversial take a look at.

Psychologist Thomas Allen testified that Roberson was a “psychopath” and named Adolf Hitler and Ted Bundy as different, extra well-known examples with the situation, as if to put the daddy in a pantheon of Twentieth-century villains.

Allen had relied on a well-known and controversial “psychopathy guidelines” that has performed some function in at the very least a dozen loss of life sentences since 1998, incomes complaints of misuse from one other psychologist who created the guidelines. Allen additionally relied on accusations in opposition to Roberson of sexual assault that by no means led to prosecution, resulting from a scarcity of proof.

Allen advised me the “psychopath” label probably performed a minor function within the jury’s option to ship Roberson to loss of life row, since he’d already been convicted of killing his toddler. However Roberson’s legal professionals have argued, “It’s unattainable to take away the tough stain from the jury field as soon as a psychologist throws the label ‘psychopath’ on the defendant.”

4. He’s earned help from conservative lawmakers and activists.

Roberson was additionally almost executed a yr in the past. Like different loss of life row prisoners, he was narrowly spared amid a political circus. Dr. Phil McGraw confirmed up on the Texas Capitol to argue for Roberson’s innocence final yr, lower than per week earlier than he appeared at Donald Trump’s presidential marketing campaign rally at Madison Sq. Backyard.

That odd timing displays rising ambivalence concerning the loss of life penalty in conservative circles. Final yr, a bipartisan group of Texas lawmakers turned to a novel technique to cease Roberson’s execution: They known as upon him to testify in particular person on the capitol constructing in Austin, after he was scheduled to die. This in the end led to a collection of difficult tussles between all three branches of the Texas authorities. Whereas Roberson by no means made it to the capitol, his execution was stayed by the Texas Supreme Courtroom.

This time, there was much less political theater, since Roberson was saved by the Texas Courtroom of Legal Appeals. Though they don’t seem to be formally swayed by politics, the court docket’s judges are all elected to their seats. A number of acquired help of their Republican major campaigns from Texas Lawyer Normal Ken Paxton, the main public determine pushing for Roberson’s execution.

That will sound like a possible battle of curiosity, but it surely’s par for the course in lots of states with elected judges. Earlier than the court docket issued a keep, Roberson’s conservative supporters publicly signaled to those judges that it was politically protected for them to cease the execution.

5. A podcast bombshell

Final week, Roberson acquired a brand new megaphone for his innocence claims: An NBC Information podcast collection hosted by Lester Holt. Within the first episode, Holt revealed a battle of curiosity that will have marred Roberson’s 2003 trial.

When Nikki was nonetheless on life help, Anderson County Choose Bascom Bentley allegedly directed the hospital to defer selections on her care to her maternal grandparents, quite than Roberson, her father. (Her mom has not been concerned within the case publicly.) “Matter of reality, Choose Bentley advised ’em we have been the dad and mom,” grandfather Larry Gene Bowman advised NBC Information. Roberson had custody of his daughter on the time, however the grandparents selected to disconnect Nikki from life help.

Bentley went on to preside over Roberson’s capital homicide trial. In a brand new submitting to the Courtroom of Legal Appeals on Oct. 6, Roberson’s legal professionals argue that Bentley violated Roberson’s parental rights and was clearly biased in opposition to the daddy when he oversaw his trial. A few of Nikki’s relations, together with her half-brother Matthew Bowman, help Roberson’s execution.

It could sound surprising that such vital particulars would emerge so near an execution. However it’s frequent, and that could be as a result of the loss of life penalty can’t be undone, so a sure panicked, no-stone-unturned ambiance units in amongst legal professionals, journalists and lawmakers. As a result of all legal instances contain human beings, they’re vulnerable to human error, so after a decade or two, there’s usually one thing troubling ready to be dug up.