A Texas inmate who has been on death row for over two decades has had his execution – scheduled for tonight – blocked by a Texas judge.
Robert Roberson, 57, was set to die by lethal injection following his conviction for killing his toddler daughter Nikki at his Palestine, East Texas home in 2002.
On Thursday afternoon, just two hours before he was to be put to death, Travis County Judge Jessica Mangrum blocked Roberson’s execution so that he could testify before the Texas legislature.
The legislature issued a subpoena for Roberson’s testimony yesterday and Mangrum has approved a temporary restraining order.
On Wednesday, he was called to testify in front of the Texas House committee tasked with evaluating the legality of his murder conviction.
Robert Roberson, 57, was set to die by lethal injection following his conviction for killing his toddler daughter Nikki at his Palestine , East Texas home in 2002. On Thursday afternoon, just two hours before he was to be put to death, Travis County Judge Jessica Mangrum blocked Roberson’s execution
Prosecutors argued he shook his daughter, Nikki, so forcefully that he caused irreversible brain damage and death from shaken baby syndrome, also known as abusive head trauma
The discrepancy is the hearing is scheduled for October 21 – days later than his execution date – yet the Department of Criminal Justice has not confirmed if his execution will be delayed or not.
The subpoena states that the accused killer must ‘provide all relevant testimony and information concerning the committee’s inquiry,’ according to CNN.
The motion to allow Roberson to testify was backed by seven representatives.
Rep. Brian Harrison filed the motion and Rep. Jeff Leach seconded it.
The state attorney general’s office is going to keep fighting for Roberson to be executed and will now go through the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals, the Texas Observer reported.
Leach said to CNN: ‘It’s a historic, unprecedented step. We’ll see what happens next.’
Roberson’s attorneys said he would be the first American to be executed for charges linked to shaken baby syndrome.
These extended efforts came just after the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles unanimously denied to overturn his conviction.
More than 80 state lawmakers have since written to the Board of Pardons and Paroles in support of his clemency petition
His attorneys questioned the validity of shaken baby syndrome as part of their efforts to save Roberson from death
The lead detective in the case Brian Wharton, numerous scientists and a bipartisan coalition of 86 state lawmakers have all came forward in support of his final bid for salvation.
Roberson was diagnosed with autism in 2018 while he was in prison. His lawyers claimed his diagnosis was not taken into account and contributed to his arrest and conviction.
Prosecutors originally argued that Nikki’s death was linked to shaken baby syndrome. She had intracranial hemorrhaging, brain swelling and bleeding behind her retinas.
But his attorneys submitted evidence that the doctors may have misdiagnosed the young girl’s cause of death, as they questioned whether shaken baby syndrome even exists.
Roberson has maintained his innocence in his daughter’s death. In August, his attorneys requested that the district court in Anderson County reopen his case.
In that filing, lawyers claimed new medical and scientific evidence shows Nikki died of severe viral and bacterial pneumonia that progressed to sepsis and then septic shock.
They alleged she was chronically ill and suffered a high fever in the days before her death.
When those symptoms continued for five days straight, Roberson and his mother took Nikki to a local emergency room, where a doctor prescribed Phenergan – a drug that now carries a Food and Drug Administration warning against being prescribed to children of Nikki’s age and in her condition.
Roberson has maintained his innocence in his daughter’s death for the more than two decades he has languished on death row
But there is evidence against him, including testimonies from several women that alleged they saw Roberson be abusive towards Nikki.
A nurse that treated Nikki when Roberson brought her to the hospital said she was ‘limp and blue’ when she arrived.
Kelly Gurganus told the court that in her then five years of working as a nurse she had never seen anyone that shade of blue.
She took the child to a trauma room and called for a doctor, while also observing bruising on Nikki’s body.
When questioned by her, Roberson said the injuries were a result of falling off the bed.
It was Gurganus who instructed the director of nurses to call the police after not believing Roberson and when she spoke with him again testified that he appeared ‘nervous and anxious’.
Pediatrician John Ross examined Nikki on the day she died and told the trial that her brain had shifted from the right side to the left.
Dr. Thomas Konjoyan treated Nikki the day she died, and testified that it would be ‘basically impossible’ for the injuries to have come from falling out of bed.
The Innocence Project is one of the involved parties that has urged Gov. Greg Abbott to call off the execution.
They pointed to the fact that at least 32 parents and caregivers in 18 states have been exonerated because their charges were based on shaken baby syndrome, according to the National Registry of Exonerations.
Abbott can only grant clemency after receiving a recommendation from the parole board.
In his decade-long governorship, Abbott has only stopped the execution of one person in 2018.
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Read more at DailyMail.co.uk