International Courant
In the course of the eleventh century, Robert Roberson, the primary particular person to be executed within the US on the largely discredited speculation of “shaken child syndrome,” was granted a brief reprieve from his dying sentence.
Late Thursday evening, the Texas Supreme Courtroom has issued a brief keep within the casedelaying the approaching execution and briefly placing an finish to a sequence of authorized maneuvers, together with an earlier resolution by the U.S. Supreme Courtroom to not intervene within the case.
The Texas Supreme Courtroom’s ruling got here after Travis County District Courtroom Choose Jessica Mangrum briefly halted Roberson’s execution so he might testify at a listening to subsequent week. an try to delay the execution.
That short-term arrest was made lower than two hours earlier than Roberson was to be executed. Shortly afterwards, nevertheless, the Texas Courtroom of Prison Appeals overturned it, placing the execution again on monitor.
In response, state lawmakers shortly requested a brief keep from the state Supreme Courtroom, which finally granted the request.
It was hanging that Roberson’s execution order was solely legitimate till October 17.
This courtesy picture courtesy of the Innocence Venture exhibits Robert Roberson photographed by Plexiglass on the Polunsky Unit of the Texas Division of Prison Justice, December 19, 2023, in Livingston, Texas.
Ilana Panich-linsman/Innocence Venture/AFP through Getty Photos
Roberson was discovered responsible of murdering his 2-year-old daughter based mostly on the testimony of a pediatrician who described swelling and bleeding in Nikki’s mind supporting a analysis of shaken child syndrome, regardless that there’s restricted proof that this a reputable analysis.
The speculation has come below severe scrutiny in biomechanical research, in addition to in a rising physique of medical and authorized literature. The medical expert on the time additionally suspected that Nikki had suffered a number of head wounds and dominated the dying a murder on the official post-mortem.
Roberson is autistic, in line with his authorized staff, which impacts the best way he expresses feelings – a priority that was additionally raised in the course of the trial.
Since his conviction, newly offered proof revealed that Nikki had pneumonia on the time of her dying and that medical doctors had prescribed respiratory suppressant medicines within the days main as much as her dying.
A medical knowledgeable who performed autopsy toxicology experiences and re-examined her lung tissue mentioned they discovered that continual interstitial viral pneumonia and acute bacterial pneumonia broken her lungs, inflicting sepsis after which septic shock, doubtless resulting in important organ failure.
Greater than 30 medical and scientific specialists have written to the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles asking it to rethink Roberson’s sentence as a result of it hinged on shaken child syndrome.
A bipartisan group of 86 members of the Texas Home of Representatives additionally spoke out in help of Roberson’s clemency request, arguing {that a} state regulation permits overview of wrongful convictions based mostly on adjustments in scientific proof. In Roberson’s case, they imagine the brand new proof ought to have led to a brand new trial.
Texas lawmakers meet with Robert Roberson, middle, in a jail, September 27, 2024, in Livingston, Texas.
Prison Justice Reform Caucus through AP
In his plea for the Supreme Courtroom to halt the execution, Roberson argued that his federal due course of rights have been violated when the Texas Supreme Courtroom refused to think about his bid to reopen the case based mostly on “substantial new scientific and medical proof’.
The plea itself adopted two earlier makes an attempt: to commute his sentence to life in jail and to delay his execution. Each requests have been denied by the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles.
In its opposition to the Supreme Courtroom on Wednesday, the state of Texas asserted that no violation of Roberson’s constitutional rights had occurred that will warrant intervention by the upper court docket.
It mentioned its personal courts adequately thought-about and denied Roberson’s requests to overview the proof, writing: “As famous by the (Prison Courtroom of Attraction’s) opinion on direct overview and Choose (Kevin) Yeary’s latest concurrence, ‘the little sufferer suffered a number of instances’. traumas inconsistent with a quick fall from mattress or issues from a virus.”
