PUBLISHER'S NOTE: Thanks to Dr. Michael Bowers of CSIDDS 'Forensics and law in focus' in a post headed, 'Forensics: Dead infant not a homicide. Flawed science on "shaken baby" conviction used in capital murder conviction,' at link below. His comment: "Thanks Dr, Ophaven. A forensic doctor testified that science used in the death penalty case of Robert Leslie Roberson III, was flawed during the continuance of the evidentiary hearing Monday, March 8."
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QUOTE OF THE DAY: "“Science does not tell us what happened to Nikki,” Ophaven said. “At the time of trial in 2003 it was believed a short fall could not create death, that is no longer the science. Shaken baby does not apply to children of Nikki’s age. Blunt force trauma absolutely can cause the type of injury Nikki had. In this case lack of oxygen to brain cells caused fluid to exit out of the cells and that fluid continued to build and created a sequence of events that caused her death. At the time of trial the science was that blood in the eyes was a sign of shaken baby. It is no longer the science.”
PASSAGE OF THE DAY: "Roberson’s legal team, lead by Gretchen Sween, called its first witness, Dr. Janice Ophaven, at 9 a.m. Monday. Ophaven, a forensic pathologist with expertise in pediatric deaths has been practicing since 1971, and testified by Zoom from her home in Minnesota. She began her testimony by giving her credentials and training. She said she has worked in the field of child abuse prevention and has testified hundreds of times in federal and state court. Judge Deborah Evans certified her as an expert in the field of pediatric forensic pathology. Ophaven was called to support the defense’s “junk science” claim as the shaken baby theory and the science that supported it in 2003 is not longer used."
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PASSAGE TWO OF THE DAY: "In her testimony, Ophaven said homicide cannot be concluded from a post mortem exam. “She died because her brain died from cranial pressure that created a lack of oxygen and blood to the brain,” Ophaven said. “Hard for pathologists to be objective because they rely on law enforcement and, in some cases, law enforcement gives them information to get a confession.” Ophaven explained that a potential for bias is always there, and greater when a child is involved, and that it is the standard in the medical community to assume child abuse first in a case like this. “Science does not tell us what happened to Nikki,” Ophaven said. “At the time of trial in 2003 it was believed a short fall could not create death, that is no longer the science. Shaken baby does not apply to children of Nikki’s age. Blunt force trauma absolutely can cause the type of injury Nikki had. In this case lack of oxygen to brain cells caused fluid to exit out of the cells and that fluid continued to build and created a sequence of events that caused her death. At the time of trial the science was that blood in the eyes was a sign of shaken baby. It is no longer the science.”"
STORY: "Doctor: Flawed science used in capital murder conviction," by reporters Stuart Whitaker and Pennylynn Webb, published by The Palestine Herald-Press on March 8, 2021.
GIST: "A forensic doctor testified that science used in the death penalty case of Robert Leslie Roberson III, was flawed during the continuance of the evidentiary hearing Monday, March 8 in a hybrid of Zoom and in-person testimony at the Anderson County Courthouse.
Roberson, of Palestine, was found guilty of capital murder in connection with the death of his daughter, 2-year-old Nikki Curtis, who died of blunt-force head injuries at a Dallas hospital on Feb. 1, 2002.
He was sentenced to die by lethal injection by a 12-person Anderson County jury after his February 2003 trial.
In a 2007 appeal to the Court of Criminal Appeals, Roberson raised 13 points of error, but each was determined to have no merit.
Roberson’s legal team, lead by Gretchen Sween, called its first witness, Dr. Janice Ophaven, at 9 a.m. Monday.
Ophaven, a forensic pathologist with expertise in pediatric deaths has been practicing since 1971, and testified by Zoom from her home in Minnesota.
She began her testimony by giving her credentials and training. She said she has worked in the field of child abuse prevention and has testified hundreds of times in federal and state court. Judge Deborah Evans certified her as an expert in the field of pediatric forensic pathology.
Ophaven was called to support the defense’s “junk science” claim as the shaken baby theory and the science that supported it in 2003 is not longer used.
In her testimony, Ophaven said homicide cannot be concluded from a post mortem exam.
“She died because her brain died from cranial pressure that created a lack of oxygen and blood to the brain,” Ophaven said. “Hard for pathologists to be objective because they rely on law enforcement and, in some cases, law enforcement gives them information to get a confession.”
