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CNN
16-07-2025
- CNN
Texas judge sets new execution date for death row inmate Robert Roberson
A Texas judge on Wednesday set a new execution date for Robert Roberson, a death row inmate who says he is innocent of murder in the 2002 death of his 2-year-old daughter. Judge Austin Reeve Jackson set the date for October 16 – almost one year after Roberson was previously scheduled to be put to death. The execution was halted following a remarkable maneuver by state lawmakers who had championed the inmate's case, prompting the Texas Supreme Court to issue a stay. The new execution date sets the stage for another potentially high-stakes battle to spare Roberson's life. His attorneys have argued he was wrongfully convicted based on allegations his daughter, Nikki Curtis, died of shaken baby syndrome – a diagnosis they say has since been discredited. Roberson's attorneys and supporters say he deserves another trial in light of new evidence they believe will prove his innocence. Gretchen Sween, Roberson's attorney, said the judge's decision Wednesday should outrage Texans, calling her client 'a demonstrably innocent man.' 'Everyone who has taken the time to look at the evidence of Robert Roberson's innocence—including the lead detective, one of the jurors, a range of highly qualified experts, and a bipartisan group of Texas lawmakers—has reached the same conclusion: Nikki's death was a terrible tragedy,' Sween said. 'Robert did not kill her. There was no crime.' While child abuse pediatricians remain firm on the validity of the shaken baby syndrome diagnosis, Roberson's attorneys say the diagnosis is inaccurate. If put to death, they say Roberson would be the first person in the US executed for a conviction based on an allegation of shaken baby syndrome. Roberson's attorneys say there is ample evidence his daughter did not die of child abuse but myriad health issues, including pneumonia, sepsis and a combination of prescribed medications now seen as inappropriate for children. Roberson currently has a pleading pending for the state's Court of Criminal Appeals. Roberson was set to be executed last October, but at the eleventh hour, a state House committee issued a subpoena for the inmate's testimony as they considered the lawfulness of his conviction. The unprecedented tactic prompted a debate over the separation of powers and led the state Supreme Court to temporarily halt the execution so it could consider the request. In November, the state Supreme Court cleared the way for a new execution date to be set by a state judge. The judge in Anderson County, who had previously set Roberson's execution date, later recused herself from the case. The district attorney in the case requested Attorney General Ken Paxton's office to take over prosecutorial power, and Paxton's office last month requested a new execution date. Judge Jackson, who's from another county, was assigned to the case.
CNN
16-07-2025
- CNN
Texas judge sets new execution date for death row inmate Robert Roberson
Crime FacebookTweetLink A Texas judge on Wednesday set a new execution date for Robert Roberson, a death row inmate who says he is innocent of murder in the 2002 death of his 2-year-old daughter. Judge Austin Reeve Jackson set the date for October 16 – almost one year after Roberson was previously scheduled to be put to death. The execution was halted following a remarkable maneuver by state lawmakers who had championed the inmate's case, prompting the Texas Supreme Court to issue a stay. The new execution date sets the stage for another potentially high-stakes battle to spare Roberson's life. His attorneys have argued he was wrongfully convicted based on allegations his daughter, Nikki Curtis, died of shaken baby syndrome – a diagnosis they say has since been discredited. Roberson's attorneys and supporters say he deserves another trial in light of new evidence they believe will prove his innocence. Gretchen Sween, Roberson's attorney, said the judge's decision Wednesday should outrage Texans, calling her client 'a demonstrably innocent man.' 'Everyone who has taken the time to look at the evidence of Robert Roberson's innocence—including the lead detective, one of the jurors, a range of highly qualified experts, and a bipartisan group of Texas lawmakers—has reached the same conclusion: Nikki's death was a terrible tragedy,' Sween said. 'Robert did not kill her. There was no crime.' While child abuse pediatricians remain firm on the validity of the shaken baby syndrome diagnosis, Roberson's attorneys say the diagnosis is inaccurate. If put to death, they say Roberson would be the first person in the US executed for a conviction based on an allegation of shaken baby syndrome. Roberson's attorneys say there is ample evidence his daughter did not die of child abuse but myriad health issues, including pneumonia, sepsis and a combination of prescribed medications now seen as inappropriate for children. Roberson currently has a pleading pending for the state's Court of Criminal Appeals. Roberson was set to be executed last October, but at the eleventh hour, a state House committee issued a subpoena for the inmate's testimony as they considered the lawfulness of his conviction. The unprecedented tactic prompted a debate over the separation of powers and led the state Supreme Court to temporarily halt the execution so it could consider the request. In November, the state Supreme Court cleared the way for a new execution date to be set by a state judge. The judge in Anderson County, who had previously set Roberson's execution date, later recused herself from the case. The district attorney in the case requested Attorney General Ken Paxton's office to take over prosecutorial power, and Paxton's office last month requested a new execution date. Judge Jackson, who's from another county, was assigned to the case.
Washington Post
17-06-2025
- Politics
- Washington Post
Prosecutors ask for new execution date for Texas man in shaken baby syndrome case
HOUSTON — A new execution date has been requested for Robert Roberson , a Texas man who had been set last year to become the first person in the U.S. to be put to death for a murder conviction tied to a diagnosis of shaken baby syndrome . Monday's request from the Texas Attorney General's Office was the first time authorities had asked for a new execution date since Roberson received a stay in October . The execution's delay followed a flurry of last-ditch legal challenges on the night of his scheduled lethal injection that were prompted by an unprecedented maneuver from a bipartisan group of Texas lawmakers who say he is innocent and was sent to death row based on flawed science . In its five-page motion, the Texas Attorney General's Office said because the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals, the state's top criminal court, has previously denied appeals in Roberson's case, 'the criteria for setting an execution have been met.' The attorney general's office requested a new execution date of Oct. 16. The attorney general's office did not immediately reply to an email seeking comment Tuesday. Court documents show the Anderson County District Attorney's Office, which had prosecuted Roberson, has agreed to let the Texas Attorney General's Office take over the case. Roberson, 58, was convicted of the 2002 killing of his 2-year-old daughter, Nikki Curtis, in the East Texas city of Palestine. Prosecutors argued he violently shook his daughter back and forth, causing severe head trauma in what's called shaken baby syndrome. His lawyers and some medical experts say his daughter died not from abuse but from complications related to pneumonia. Gretchen Sween, one of Roberson's attorneys, criticized the office of Attorney General Ken Paxton for asking for a new execution date when Roberson still has an appeal pending before the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals that his legal team says contains 'powerful new evidence of his innocence.' 'There is no justification for the Attorney General's relentless effort to kill an innocent human being — and no state law or moral law that authorizes seeking an execution date under these circumstances,' Sween said in a statement. In its latest appeal filed in February, Roberson's legal team said new evidence, including statements from pathologists that state the girl's death was not a homicide and question the reliability of conclusions by the medical examiner on the cause of death, show 'no rational juror would find Roberson guilty of capital murder; and unreliable and outdated scientific and medical evidence was material to his conviction.' Roberson's attorneys have asked that a hearing be held over whether a new execution date should be set. It was not immediately known when a court hearing could be held as the case currently does not have a presiding judge as the previous judge recused herself from the case in November. Roberson had been in a holding cell in October, a few feet away from America's busiest death chamber in Huntsville, waiting to receive a lethal injection when he was granted an execution stay after a group of Texas lawmakers issued a subpoena for him to testify before a House committee several days after he was scheduled to die. The Texas Supreme Court ruled in November that although the subpoena was valid, it could not be used to circumvent a scheduled execution. Roberson never testified before the House committee as Paxton's office blocked efforts to have him speak to lawmakers . ___ Follow Juan A. Lozano:
Associated Press
17-06-2025
- Politics
- Associated Press
Prosecutors ask for new execution date for Texas man in shaken baby syndrome case
HOUSTON (AP) — A new execution date has been requested for Robert Roberson, a Texas man who had been set last year to become the first person in the U.S. to be put to death for a murder conviction tied to a diagnosis of shaken baby syndrome. Monday's request from the Texas Attorney General's Office was the first time authorities had asked for a new execution date since Roberson received a stay in October. The execution's delay followed a flurry of last-ditch legal challenges on the night of his scheduled lethal injection that were prompted by an unprecedented maneuver from a bipartisan group of Texas lawmakers who say he is innocent and was sent to death row based on flawed science. In its five-page motion, the Texas Attorney General's Office said because the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals, the state's top criminal court, has previously denied appeals in Roberson's case, 'the criteria for setting an execution have been met.' The attorney general's office requested a new execution date of Oct. 16. The attorney general's office did not immediately reply to an email seeking comment Tuesday. Court documents show the Anderson County District Attorney's Office, which had prosecuted Roberson, has agreed to let the Texas Attorney General's Office take over the case. Roberson, 58, was convicted of the 2002 killing of his 2-year-old daughter, Nikki Curtis, in the East Texas city of Palestine. Prosecutors argued he violently shook his daughter back and forth, causing severe head trauma in what's called shaken baby syndrome. His lawyers and some medical experts say his daughter died not from abuse but from complications related to pneumonia. Gretchen Sween, one of Roberson's attorneys, criticized the office of Attorney General Ken Paxton for asking for a new execution date when Roberson still has an appeal pending before the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals that his legal team says contains 'powerful new evidence of his innocence.' 'There is no justification for the Attorney General's relentless effort to kill an innocent human being — and no state law or moral law that authorizes seeking an execution date under these circumstances,' Sween said in a statement. In its latest appeal filed in February, Roberson's legal team said new evidence, including statements from pathologists that state the girl's death was not a homicide and question the reliability of conclusions by the medical examiner on the cause of death, show 'no rational juror would find Roberson guilty of capital murder; and unreliable and outdated scientific and medical evidence was material to his conviction.' Roberson's attorneys have asked that a hearing be held over whether a new execution date should be set. It was not immediately known when a court hearing could be held as the case currently does not have a presiding judge as the previous judge recused herself from the case in November. Roberson had been in a holding cell in October, a few feet away from America's busiest death chamber in Huntsville, waiting to receive a lethal injection when he was granted an execution stay after a group of Texas lawmakers issued a subpoena for him to testify before a House committee several days after he was scheduled to die. The Texas Supreme Court ruled in November that although the subpoena was valid, it could not be used to circumvent a scheduled execution. Roberson never testified before the House committee as Paxton's office blocked efforts to have him speak to lawmakers. ___ Follow Juan A. Lozano:
