The U.S. Supreme Court has declined to intervene in the execution of Robert Roberson, scheduled for lethal injection in Texas on Thursday evening. He faces execution for the 2002 death of his two-year-old daughter, Nikki, with prosecutors arguing she suffered from shaken baby syndrome, a diagnosis now under scrutiny. Roberson maintains his innocence, claiming new evidence suggests Nikki died from double pneumonia compounded by a fall from her bed.
On Thursday night, the Texas Supreme Court issued an order to halt Roberson’s execution after state legislators requested intervention. This followed the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals’ overruling of a temporary stay from Travis County Judge Jessica Mangrum.
Justice Sonia Sotomayor, commenting on the situation, noted the urgency of the case, stating that few cases warrant a stay of execution more than one where actual innocence is seriously demonstrated. However, she concluded that the Supreme Court lacked grounds for federal intervention since the only remaining hope for Roberson lies with Texas Governor Greg Abbott for clemency.
Earlier on Thursday, a Travis County judge had temporarily delayed Roberson’s execution. State lawmakers from both parties issued a subpoena requiring Roberson to testify before the Texas House Committee on Judiciary and Jurisprudence next week, although the state’s attorney general plans to appeal this decision.
In the days leading up to Nikki’s death, she had been diagnosed with a severe respiratory infection and suffered from high fever. On the day of her death, after falling from her bed, Roberson found her unresponsive when he woke again.
Roberson rushed Nikki to the hospital, where scans indicated brain bleeding and swelling, as well as retinal bleeding. At the time, these injuries were attributed to shaken baby syndrome, leading to Roberson’s conviction and death sentence in 2003. He now argues that the reliance on this theory has been thoroughly discredited, asserting that new evidence points to pneumonia as the true cause of Nikki’s death, exacerbated by discontinued medications that inhibited breathing.
The Texas Court’s refusal to review the new evidence pushed Roberson to seek intervention from the Supreme Court. He claimed that the dismissals left him without judicial review of the merits of his innocence claims.
Brian Wharton, lead detective in the original investigation, has expressed doubts about Roberson’s guilt, stating that investigators did not consider alternatives to shaken baby syndrome. Now a minister, he believes that the decision made was likely incorrect.
A bipartisan group of 86 Texas legislators has called for clemency for Roberson, advocating for a new trial based on a law that challenges convictions founded on outdated scientific theories. However, the state argued against halting the execution, asserting that Roberson does not prove his innocence and claims his scientific evidence only ignites debate among experts regarding the shaken baby syndrome diagnosis.
The Supreme Court’s refusal to stay Roberson’s execution came shortly before a 6 p.m. Eastern time deadline. Sotomayor’s statement voiced concern over incorrect convictions backed by faulty science, highlighting the inadequacy of current post-conviction remedies. However, she pointed out that to obtain a stay, Roberson needed to raise a claim under federal law, which he did not do, thus limiting the court’s ability to act.
Despite her concerns based on the evidence presented, Sotomayor reiterated that the court couldn’t halt the execution without a valid federal claim and encouraged Gov. Abbott to grant a 30-day reprieve to prevent a potential miscarriage of justice by executing a man with credible evidence of his innocence.