PASSAGE TWO OF THE DAY: "In the past 15 years, however, experts have disputed the science behind the SBS hypothesis, and at least 32 parents and caregivers have been exonerated in cases involving SBS. Several appeals courts have reconsidered convictions based on SBS, including in Texas itself. Medical and scientific research has shown that the three symptoms can also be caused by disease. In Nikki’s case, experts hired by Roberson’s legal team who analyzed samples of her lung tissue and stand ready to testify that she died of severe pneumonia, not from physical abuse, and that the Phenergan and codeine suppressed her breathing. Unfortunately, the full picture came into view long after Roberson was convicted, as often happens in such cases."
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PASSAGE THREE OF THE DAY: "At the time of his trial, he had no money to hire a trial lawyer or to call experts, though 20 years ago it was difficult to find an expert who did not pay homage to SBS. From the beginning, during jury selection, Roberson was portrayed as a child abuser and baby killer, excluding other potential explanations for Nikki’s death. At the time of his trial, he had no money to hire a trial lawyer or to call experts, though 20 years ago it was difficult to find an expert who did not pay homage to SBS. From the beginning, during jury selection, Roberson was portrayed as a child abuser and baby killer, excluding other potential explanations for Nikki’s death."
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OPINION: "The death penalty has no place in our justice system. Roberson’s case shows that," by John Grisham, published by The Washington Post on October 15, 2024. "John Grisham, a novelist and retired lawyer, is co-author of “Framed: Astonishing True Stories of Wrongful Convictions,” which publishes this week."
SUB-HEADING: "Texas courts have failed Robert Roberson."
GIST: "Before it’s too late, say a prayer for Robert Roberson.
Barring a miracle, he will be killed on Thursday in the death chamber at Texas’s Huntsville Prison.
Roberson has spent the past 22 years on death row for a crime that perhaps never occurred, and now Texas is hellbent on executing him.
The death penalty should have no place in a criminal justice system plagued by wrongful convictions. Roberson’s case illustrates the problem.
A bipartisan majority of the Texas House — 86 lawmakers — urged the state to grant him clemency.
The detective who investigated the death of Roberson’s daughter, Nikki, now lobbies for his release.
And Roberson’s legal team has assembled a group of experts — scientists and doctors with impeccable credentials — who contend that his conviction was based on the since-refuted application of “shaken baby syndrome” theory.
All agree that his daughter probably died of viral pneumonia, not physical abuse.
The evidence is assembled and available to the Texas authorities, but no one with the power to stop Roberson’s execution is paying attention. The courts slammed all the doors on the basis of technicalities, and even politicians’ pleas have been ignored.
Here are the facts of the case: Nikki was 27 months old when she died in 2002.
Throughout her short life, she was a sickly child. Roberson, her biological father and custodial parent, took her to see a doctor many times in the month before she died.
In the final week, she vomited, coughed, ran high fevers and had constant diarrhea. Doctors at the Palestine, Tex., hospital prescribed Phenergan and codeine, two dangerous drugs no longer given to children because they inhibit breathing.
When Roberson rushed his daughter in for the last time, she was turning blue and not breathing.
While the doctors worked frantically to save her, nurses and police labeled Robertson’s lack of emotive behavior bizarre.
He did not seem to be as agitated as most parents would be under such dire circumstances, they said.
On death row years later, Roberson would be diagnosed as autistic.
The nurses testified against him. After Nikki died, examiners settled on the cause of death as “shaken baby syndrome” without reviewing crucial evidence: scans of Nikki’s head from before her death.
A pause on the death penalty isn’t enough
At the time, American prosecutors aggressively convicted hundreds of parents, grandparents, babysitters and other caregivers for infant deaths using the dubious medical hypothesis of shaken baby syndrome.
If a small child in distress was presented to an emergency room and showed evidence of a swollen brain, hemorrhaging retinas and bleeding under the subdural membrane, authorities assumed the child had been violently shaken, regardless of whether there were outward signs of physical trauma.
And the last caregiver with the child was the presumed perpetrator. Guilt seemed automatic. Juries showed little sympathy.
In the past 15 years, however, experts have disputed the science behind the SBS hypothesis, and at least 32 parents and caregivers have been exonerated in cases involving SBS.
Several appeals courts have reconsidered convictions based on SBS, including in Texas itself. Medical and scientific research has shown that the three symptoms can also be caused by disease.
In Nikki’s case, experts hired by Roberson’s legal team who analyzed samples of her lung tissue and stand ready to testify that she died of severe pneumonia, not from physical abuse, and that the Phenergan and codeine suppressed her breathing.
Unfortunately, the full picture came into view long after Roberson was convicted, as often happens in such cases.
At the time of his trial, he had no money to hire a trial lawyer or to call experts, though 20 years ago it was difficult to find an expert who did not pay homage to SBS.
From the beginning, during jury selection, Roberson was portrayed as a child abuser and baby killer, excluding other potential explanations for Nikki’s death.
Texas courts have failed Roberson at every turn.
Time and again, the Court of Criminal Appeals rejected his appeals and efforts to bring forward new evidence.
Just last week, the CCA refused to hear what will probably be his final petition.
The countdown grows louder.
At this point, only Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, the CCA or the U.S. Supreme Court can intercede.
As dozens of wrongful convictions have demonstrated, the American criminal justice system is flawed.
That a state can approve death while refusing to consider critical evidence should give all Americans pause.
Are we more willing to accept a potentially innocent man’s execution than to revisit a case?
In the coming days, Roberson should be spared from death and granted a new, fair trial."
The entire commentary can be read at:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2024/10/15/john-grisham-texas-death-penalty-robert-roberson/
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;
