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SUB-HEADING: "Texas lawmakers proceed with hearing after Robert Roberson denied chance to speak."
GIST: "After a week of twists and turns in the Texas death row case of autistic inmate Robert Roberson, the Texas House of Representatives held a criminal jurisprudence committee hearing on Oct. 21, where Roberson was expected to testify under subpoena, but was ultimately denied the opportunity.
Roberson has spent two decades on death row for the murder of his 2-year-old daughter, Nikki, under the now-debunked theory of shaken baby syndrome. If executed, Roberson would have been the first inmate put to death under this theory, which many experts have discredited.
The case has gained global attention as state lawmakers challenge the courts in what could become a landmark case for wrongful convictions. This effort garnered significant bipartisan support from state leaders, and Brian Wharton, the lead detective in the case, along with doctors and scientists who claim there is strong evidence of Roberson’s innocence.
During Roberson's scheduled execution on Oct. 17, Texas lawmakers made an unprecedented move by filing a subpoena with the Texas Supreme Court to halt his execution and compel his testimony during the committee hearing on Monday.
Despite the state’s continued push for execution, the committee proceeded with testimonies from several key witnesses. Among them were Phillip C. McGraw (known publicly as Dr. Phil), author and former criminal attorney John Grisham, and Terri Compton, a juror from Roberson’s original trial in East Texas in the early 2000s.
During the committee meeting, Rep. Brian Harrison shared comments from Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton on the case and his office's efforts to proceed with execution.
On record, Harrison stated that Paxton’s office issued a statement that the evidence in Roberson’s case concludes that Nikki died of multiple blunt force impacts to the child’s head. In addition, a history of the evidence showed a pattern of abuse against the child and that the shaken baby syndrome was not the central feature of the case.
A claim the juror denied during testimony.
“The entire case was centered around the shaken baby syndrome,” Compton said during testimony.
McGraw, a supporter of the death penalty, shared his views on the case and made the argument about the importance of this case and Roberson not having the proper due process and a fair trial under the law.
“This is not just about the man but also about the process,” McGraw said during testimony. “If the state cannot apply the law properly, then there should be no right to uphold the death penalty.”
In 2013, Texas became the first state to create a legal avenue for prisoners to challenge wrongful convictions by citing changes in forensic science.
Known as the Junk Science Bill, the law allows inmates to argue that discredited forensic methods, like shaken baby syndrome, have an opportunity for new and fair trials. However, early reports suggest that obtaining new trials under this law has been difficult, adding that, to date, zero death row inmates in Texas have successfully been granted a new trial under the law.
The committee is now focused on why the courts have not applied the 2013 law to address potential wrongful convictions like Roberson’s.
This is a developing story.
The entire story can be read at:
From the House Criminal Jurisprudence Committee hearing: Texas State Represetative Brian Harrison (Republican Party);
Juror in #RobertRoberson’s trial just testified that she now believes he is INNOCENT, that the entire case against him was 'shaken baby syndrome' - not beating - and that the jury did not have all the evidence.
'I keep being told to believe the jury. So I went and found an actual juror from 2003. She couldn’t wait to testify. Here’s what she had to say: (Thrust of her evidence;)PUBLISHER'S NOTE: I am monitoring this case/issue/resource. Keep your eye on the Charles Smith Blog for reports on developments. The Toronto Star, my previous employer for more than twenty incredible years, has put considerable effort into exposing the harm caused by Dr. Charles Smith and his protectors - and into pushing for reform of Ontario's forensic pediatric pathology system. The Star has a "topic" section which focuses on recent stories related to Dr. Charles Smith. It can be found at: http://www.thestar.com/topic/charlessmith. Information on "The Charles Smith Blog Award"- and its nomination process - can be found at: http://smithforensic.blogspot.com/2011/05/charles-smith-blog-award-nominations.html Please send any comments or information on other cases and issues of interest to the readers of this blog to: hlevy15@gmail.com. Harold Levy: Publisher: The Charles Smith Blog.
- SEE BREAKDOWN OF SOME OF THE ON-GOING INTERNATIONAL CASES (OUTSIDE OF THE CONTINENTAL USA) THAT I AM FOLLOWING ON THIS BLOG, AT THE LINK BELOW: HL:
https://www.blogger.com/blog/post/edit/120008354894645705/4704913685758792985
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FINAL WORD: (Applicable to all of our wrongful conviction cases): "Whenever there is a wrongful conviction, it exposes errors in our criminal legal system, and we hope that this case — and lessons from it — can prevent future injustices."
Lawyer Radha Natarajan:
Executive Director: New England Innocence Project;
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FINAL, FINAL WORD: "Since its inception, the Innocence Project has pushed the criminal legal system to confront and correct the laws and policies that cause and contribute to wrongful convictions. They never shied away from the hard cases — the ones involving eyewitness identifications, confessions, and bite marks. Instead, in the course of presenting scientific evidence of innocence, they've exposed the unreliability of evidence that was, for centuries, deemed untouchable." So true!
Christina Swarns: Executive Director: The Innocence Project;