QUOTE OF THE DAY: "But the longtime death penalty opponent also pointed to the New Jersey decision as a ray of hope. “Which state is going to be next?” he (Barry Scheck) asked. “I was thinking Texas. I didn’t know if I had the guts to say that out loud, but in my experience, that’s not impossible.”
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STORY: "Robert Roberson ‘Is Still in Peril,’ Death Row Opponents Say. But There Is Hope," by Bethany Erickson, Senior Digital Editor of D Magazine, published on December 16, 2025. (Bethany Erickson is the senior digital editor for D Magazine. She's written about real estate, education policy, the stock market, and crime throughout her career, and sometimes all at the same time.)
GIST: "Last year, Robert Roberson came within hours of dying before a legislative subpoena forestalled his execution date.
This year, he was a week away from execution when the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals issued a stay in October.
Whether 2026 will arrive with better news is still very much up in the air.
The same month that the Court of Criminal Appeals ruled, Roberson’s lawyer, Gretchen Sween, set the wheels in motion for a potential hearing to go over evidence she’d like to introduce should her client get a new trial.
The Texas Attorney General’s office responded as well, arguing that Sween’s request for a status hearing was unnecessary and that its attorneys wouldn’t be available for much of December and January.
Roberson was convicted in the 2002 death of his toddler daughter, Nikki, with evidence that relied heavily on a shaken baby syndrome diagnosis.
For some time, his lawyers and the Innocence Project have argued that he deserves a new trial for a variety of reasons, with the biggest being that most experts now believe that shaken baby diagnoses are based on “junk science.”
His attorneys argue that this is the case; Roberson’s conviction runs afoul of a 2013 Texas state law addressing convictions based on disputed or disproven science.
In November, the New Jersey Supreme Court became the first state to prohibit prosecutors from introducing evidence suggesting a shaken baby diagnosis.
Earlier this month, a large group of anti-death penalty advocates and faith leaders announced the U.S. Campaign to End the Death Penalty.
Roberson’s case was on their minds, with Innocence Project founder and attorney Barry Scheck commenting on the bipartisan effort to save Roberson, along with the attention of the faith community (including the detective who arrested Roberson, Brian Wharton, who is now a Methodist minister in Onalaska).
”It was quite moving and extraordinary to see these Republican legislators go to prison and pray with Robert,” Scheck said before acknowledging that “Robert is still in peril because he has become a political football in Texas.”
But the longtime death penalty opponent also pointed to the New Jersey decision as a ray of hope. “Which state is going to be next?” he asked. “I was thinking Texas. I didn’t know if I had the guts to say that out loud, but in my experience, that’s not impossible.”
Which brings us to last Friday, when attorneys met with 114th District Court Judge Austin Reeve Jackson to determine next steps.
Jackson ruled that the state will have until February 6 to respond to Sween’s filing. He will review both arguments before letting the state and the defense know if he feels a hearing to discuss Sween’s evidence is needed.
That hearing would likely happen in June.
All of this is to say that Roberson’s reprieve from execution is not a permanent one.
Jackson cannot order a new trial.
But he can make a recommendation to the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals.
If he recommends a new trial, that body can order it.
It could also order a new trial even if Jackson recommends against it."
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;
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