INNOCENCE PROJECT PETITION: JUSTICE FOR ROBERT ROBERSON:
STOP HIS EXECUTION: (SET FOR OCTOBER 16):
https://innocenceproject.org/petitions/justice-for-robert-roberson/
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QUOTE OF THE DAY: "Five Republican and four Democratic lawmakers on the Texas House Committee on Criminal Jurisprudence issued a subpoena for Roberson shortly before his execution last year in an extraordinary effort to stop it. Texas Reps. Joe Moody, a Democrat, and Jeff Leach, a Republican, led the charge for Roberson's reprieve and issued a statement after his life was spared. "For over 20 years, Robert Roberson has spent 23.5 hours of every single day in solitary confinement in a cell no bigger than the closets of most Texans, longing and striving to be heard," they said. "And while some courthouses may have failed him, the Texas House has not." The move came after a failed effort by a bipartisan group of 84 Texas lawmakers who urged the state's Board of Pardons and Paroles to recommend clemency for Roberson "out of grave concern that Texas may put him to death for a crime that did not occur.”
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STORY: "'Texans should be outraged': Execution back on for inmate who has strong innocence claims," by National Trending Desk Editor Amanda Lee Myers, published by USA Today, on June 19, 2025.
SUB-HEADING: "Last year with hours left to live, Robert Roberson's life was spared following a furious effort by a bipartisan group of Texas lawmakers − a development rarely seen in the hardliner state."
GIST: "A Texas judge has rescheduled the execution of a death row inmate who won a rare stay of execution last year as prison officials were poised to administer his lethal injection.
Judge Austin Reeve Jackson on Wednesday set Robert Roberson's execution for Oct. 16, almost exactly a year after the Texas Supreme Court granted him a stay on his last execution day, Oct. 17, 2024.
Roberson, 58, is imprisoned in the 2002 death of his 2-year-old daughter, Nikki, despite strong evidence that suggests he is innocent. Roberson was convicted based on shaken baby syndrome, which has since been largely debunked.
Last year with hours left to live, Roberson's life was spared following a furious effort by a bipartisan group of Texas lawmakers − a development rarely seen in the nation's most prolific death penalty state. The Texas Supreme Court intervened even as the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles declined to recommend clemency for Roberson and the U.S. Supreme Court declined to stop it.
Judge Reeve has rescheduled the execution at the request of Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton even though the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals is "currently considering new evidence further proving" Roberson's innocence, said his defense attorney, Gretchen Sween.
“Texans should be outraged that the court has scheduled an execution date for a demonstrably innocent man," Sween said in a statement. "Everyone who has taken the time to look at the evidence of Robert Roberson’s innocence − including the lead detective, one of the jurors, a range of highly qualified experts, and a bipartisan group of Texas lawmakers − has reached the same conclusion: Nikki’s death was a terrible tragedy. Robert did not kill her. There was no crime."
The Attorney General's Office didn't immediately respond to USA TODAY's request for comment Wednesday.
Here's what you need to know about the case.
Detective who pursued Robert Roberson: 'I was wrong'
Roberson was convicted of killing his daughter in their home in the East Texas city of Palestine in 2002.
Roberson reported hearing Nikki cry and finding that she had fallen out of bed. After soothing her, he said, they both went back to sleep. Later, when Roberson woke again, he found Nikki wasn’t breathing, and her lips had turned blue. At the emergency room, doctors observed symptoms consistent with brain death and she was pronounced dead the next day.
Doctors and investigators at the time jumped to the conclusion that Nikki died of shaken baby syndrome, but the toddler had pneumonia in both lungs, pre-existing conditions for which she was prescribed opioids now banned for children, and undiagnosed sepsis.
Shaken baby syndrome has been largely debunked as junk science, and the lead investigator in Roberson's case told USA TODAY's The Excerpt podcast that he botched the investigation.
"Robert is a completely innocent man and we got it completely wrong, because we were looking for the wrong things," Brian Wharton said, adding that his confirmation bias and a number of misunderstandings wrongly pointed him to Roberson's guilt.
"I was wrong. I didn't see Robert. I did not hear Robert," Wharton said. "I can tell you now, he is a good man. He is a kind man. He is a gracious man. And he did not do what the state of Texas and I have accused him of."
What led to Robert Roberson's previous execution stay?
Five Republican and four Democratic lawmakers on the Texas House Committee on Criminal Jurisprudence issued a subpoena for Roberson shortly before his execution last year in an extraordinary effort to stop it.
Texas Reps. Joe Moody, a Democrat, and Jeff Leach, a Republican, led the charge for Roberson's reprieve and issued a statement after his life was spared.
"For over 20 years, Robert Roberson has spent 23.5 hours of every single day in solitary confinement in a cell no bigger than the closets of most Texans, longing and striving to be heard," they said. "And while some courthouses may have failed him, the Texas House has not."
The move came after a failed effort by a bipartisan group of 84 Texas lawmakers who urged the state's Board of Pardons and Paroles to recommend clemency for Roberson "out of grave concern that Texas may put him to death for a crime that did not occur.”
The clemency board denied their request.
About three dozen scientific and medical experts wrote to the clemency board explaining that had Nikki died today, "no doctor would consider Shaken Baby Syndrome" as the cause because the condition "is now considered a diagnosis of exclusion."
"Nikki’s pneumonia, the extreme levels of dangerous medications found in her system during her autopsy, and her fall from the bed explain why Nikki died," the experts wrote.
Also fighting for Roberson's salvation: groups representing parental rights, autism advocates, faith leaders and anti-death penalty groups including the Innocence Project, and bestselling author John Grisham, who called Nikki's death "a tragedy, not a crime," in a column for the Palestine Herald-Press.
What happens now?
Roberson's attorney told USA TODAY that she will again seek a stay of Roberson's execution "so all of the evidence that proves he is innocent can be reviewed by the courts without the pressure of a looming execution date.”
Roberson will have many chances for courts, the state's clemency board and government officials to stop his execution again."
The entire story can be read at:
https://share.google/sMmULCQa9gZ4JNDtAPUBLISHER'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;
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