PASSAGE OF THE DAY: "On Friday, both the state and Roberson's defense team met with the presiding judge, 114th District Court Judge Austin Reeve Jackson, over Zoom to talk about scheduling for the case going forward. Roberson's legal team has pushed for a new evidentiary hearing based on developments in science used to convict Roberson. After discussion over what evidence would be addressed in that potential evidentiary hearing, both the state and defense agreed to submit written arguments on how new legal precedent addresses developments in science used to convict Roberson. On May 29, Jackson will consider those written arguments and determine whether they warrant an evidentiary hearing in Roberson’s case."
---------------------------------------------
STORY: "Judge to consider arguments for new evidentiary hearing in Robert Roberson's death row case," by Author Jude Ratcliff, published by MSN.com. on April 12, 2026.
GIST: "Robert Roberson's attorneys appeared in an Anderson County courtroom Friday over Zoom for a status conference discussing the next steps in his death row case.
On Friday, both the state and Roberson's defense team met with the presiding judge, 114th District Court Judge Austin Reeve Jackson, over Zoom to talk about scheduling for the case going forward. Roberson's legal team has pushed for a new evidentiary hearing based on developments in science used to convict Roberson.
After discussion over what evidence would be addressed in that potential evidentiary hearing, both the state and defense agreed to submit written arguments on how new legal precedent addresses developments in science used to convict Roberson. On May 29, Jackson will consider those written arguments and determine whether they warrant an evidentiary hearing in Roberson’s case.
The request for a new evidentiary hearing relies on precedent set in Ex parte Roark, a Dallas County habeas case in which the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals granted relief after concluding that new and evolved scientific evidence—had it been available at trial—would more likely than not have changed Andrew Wayne Roark’s conviction, entitling him to a new trial.
Austin will address evidence admitted in Roberson’s 2003 trial and consider both the state and defense's written arguments on how that evidence applies to the precedent set in Ex parte Roark.
On Oct. 9, 2025, the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals granted Roberson a stay of execution, and remanded his case back to the 3rd Judicial District Court Anderson County to consider whether his case warrants relief.
Roberson, who has faced execution multiple times but maintained his innocence, has been on death row since his 2003 capital murder conviction in the 2002 death of his 2-year-old daughter, Nikki Curtis, in Anderson County."
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. 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.
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;
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;
