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PETITION:
INNOCENCE PROJECT: "Robert would be the first person in the U.S. executed based on the discredited shaken baby syndrome hypothesis unless the courts or Gov. Abbott intervenes. Sign the petition now!"
https://innocenceproject.org/petitions/justice-for-robert-roberson/
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PASSAGE ONE OF THE DAY: "Roberson was convicted and sentenced to death largely because of his unemotional behavior that night and in the courtroom in front of the jury. But jurors were never told about Nikki’s chronic medical problems. In recent years, medical experts reexamined Nikki’s lung tissue and found that she was suffering from two kinds of pneumonia which caused sepsis and then septic shock."
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PASSAGE TWO OF THE DAY: "To date, courts have exonerated and released at least 33 people convicted based on a diagnosis of shaken baby syndrome. The medical consensus today is that the diagnosis is based on junk science. A few days ago, the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals overturned the conviction of a Dallas man on a similar shaken baby case. Roberson's attorneys argued that their client should be granted a new trial. More than 13,000 people have signed a petition calling for Roberson's looming execution to be halted."
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STORY: "Robert Roberson loses appeal to stop Texas from executing him based on debunked 'shaken baby syndrome,' by Senior Reporter ad hoist of "The Source," "Texas Matters." David Martin Davies, published by Texas Public Radio, on October 11, 2024.
GIST: Texas death row inmate Robert Roberson lost one of his final appeals on Friday. The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals refused to stop his Oct. 17 execution.
This narrows Roberson's path to avoiding the death penalty.
Republican State Rep. Jeff Leach reacted on social media by calling this "a terribly unjust and unconscionable decision that, in my opinion, compels immediate action by the legislature."
Democratic State Rep. Joe Moody, chair of the Texas House Criminal Jurisprudence Committee, called a hearing of the committee for Oct. 16., the day before Roberson’s planned execution.
"We’re barreling towards an execution when a strong bipartisan majority of #tx leg reps aren’t even sure a crime occurred—and are very sure due process didn’t," Moody said on X. "We have to do all we can to pump the brakes before this stains Texas justice for generations."
Robert Roberson was convicted in 2002 of shaking his 2-year-old daughter, Nikki, to death at his home in Palestine, Texas. Shaken baby syndrome is a controversial child abuse theory that has since been discredited and has led to many wrongful convictions across the country.
Roberson’s attorneys have argued that his conviction was based on "shaken baby syndrome," a now discredited theory that claims violently shaking a baby can cause fatal brain damage — but without leaving any other signs of physical trauma.
In 2002, Roberson’s two-year old daughter, Nikki, was sick with a fever of 104.5. The little girl was born with chronic health problems that were never fully diagnosed. She would frequently stop breathing and turn blue.
Over the course of a week, Roberson took the toddler to both the ER and her pediatrician, who prescribed codeine and another powerful drug. Both are respiratory suppressants that medical experts say are no longer prescribed for children.
And in the early morning of Jan. 31, Nikki stopped breathing again. When Roberson rushed his daughter back to the hospital in Palestine, Texas, Nikki could not be resuscitated. Her heart was revived but not her brain. She was taken off life support the following day.
"I lost my little girl and and then they accused me of it because I couldn't explain, explain what happened to her," Roberson told TPR in an interview from Texas Death Row in Huntsville. "So they just said I was guilty of it because the hospital told the investigators that it was a certain type of case shaking baby you know, and that's the way they went. They never did investigate it.”
The lead detective on the case says that’s correct. No theory beyond shaken baby syndrome was ever seriously investigated.
Roberson is on the autism spectrum, and he also has a low IQ.
“He's been described by people who know him as like Forrest Gump," said Gretchen Sween, Roberson’s lead attorney. "He has this, a developmental disability, this lifelong, but he also has this sort of childlike innocence and authenticity and is very intuitive and kind about people.”
Sween said the hospital did a CAT scan of Nikki and found a swollen, bleeding brain — believed at the time to be a classic sign of shaken baby syndrome.
But now medical experts point out that pneumonia and starving the brain of oxygen can create those symptoms — and Nikki had both.
But back in 2002, the East Texas hospital staff thought they had a dad murdering his daughter. They called the police. They immediately suspected Roberson because of his odd demeanor.
Roberson was convicted and sentenced to death largely because of his unemotional behavior that night and in the courtroom in front of the jury.
But jurors were never told about Nikki’s chronic medical problems.
In recent years, medical experts reexamined Nikki’s lung tissue and found that she was suffering from two kinds of pneumonia which caused sepsis and then septic shock.
To date, courts have exonerated and released at least 33 people convicted based on a diagnosis of shaken baby syndrome. The medical consensus today is that the diagnosis is based on junk science.
A few days ago, the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals overturned the conviction of a Dallas man on a similar shaken baby case. Roberson's attorneys argued that their client should be granted a new trial.
More than 13,000 people have signed a petition calling for Roberson's looming execution to be halted."
The entire story can be read at:
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;
