Dallas Radio KRDL:Top Stories of 2024: 'The fight to keep Robert Roberson alive': ( Update)…"Fast forward to Dec. 20th, when Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton blocked a Texas House subpoena that would have allowed Roberson to testify before a committee for a second time. The committee has recessed indefinitely. The election happened, and come Jan. 1st there will be a new house committee with new members who may not be inclined to hear more about Roberson. The Supreme Court ultimately lifted its stay, but the House committee succeeded in pushing the case into the next year when three new justices will come onto the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals. Only one has to vote in favor or Roberson to scuttle an execution."

QUOTE  OF THE DAY:   "Roberson still has not testified. But others have. Dr. Phil McGraw, known as TV's Dr. Phil, is a psychologist who reviewed the entire case and talked with Roberson. "I am 100% convinced that we're facing a miscarriage of justice here," Dr. Phil said. He says the jury never was told about the girl's medical condition and that the only thing presented as an explanation was Shaken Baby Syndrome. Even one of the original jurors said she never would have voted to convict had she known about the lung disease."

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STORY: KRLD  of Dallas (Reporter Lp Phillips) chooses the fight to keep Robert Roberson alive as one of its top stories of 2024. (L.P. Phillips is an Edward R. Murrow Award winning investigative reporter who has spent more than 30 years in radio and television news.)

GIST:  "Among the year's most intriguing legal fights has been the effort to keep an Anderson County man from being executed.

On October 17th, Robert Roberson was supposed to have been put to death for the 2002 shaking death of his daughter. It didn't happen.

"The Texas House stood up and spoke up," Texas Senator Jeff Leach said.

Leach is a member of the Texas House Committee that oversees criminal law. Roberson's case has been through all the courts including the U.S. Supreme Court, and all affirmed the conviction and death sentence. But the committee is convinced his conviction was based on the debunked shaken baby syndrome.

The committee believed Roberson was innocent and his daughter actually died from an ongoing lung illness. Out of options, the committee issued a subpoena for Roberson to testify days after the execution would have happened. It worked. The Texas Supreme Court stepped in.

"The Texas Supreme Court said, we are going to affirm the decision by the district judge, at least in part, that basically triggered a stay of the execution," Owsley said.

But then another fight erupted over how the testimony was to be taken. Roberson still has not testified. But others have. Dr. Phil McGraw, known as TV's Dr. Phil, is a psychologist who reviewed the entire case and talked with Roberson.

"I am 100% convinced that we're facing a miscarriage of justice here," Dr. Phil said.

He says the jury never was told about the girl's medical condition and that the only thing presented as an explanation was Shaken Baby Syndrome. Even one of the original jurors said she never would have voted to convict had she known about the lung disease.

Fast forward to Dec. 20th, when Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton blocked a Texas House subpoena that would have allowed Roberson to testify before a committee for a second time.

The committee has recessed indefinitely. The election happened, and come Jan. 1st there will be a new house committee with new members who may not be inclined to hear more about Roberson. The Supreme Court ultimately lifted its stay, but the House committee succeeded in pushing the case into the next year when three new justices will come onto the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals.

Only one has to vote in favor or Roberson to scuttle an execution."

The entire story can be read at: 

https://www.msn.com/en-ca/news/news/content/ar-AA1wmfOp?ocid=sapphireappshare

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;