In a brief order, the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals put off the Oct. 16 execution of Robert Roberson, who was convicted and sentenced to death in 2003 for killing his 2-year-old daughter Nikki the year prior. To convince a jury that Roberson was guilty, prosecutors largely relied on testimony from Dr. Janet Squires, a child abuse pediatrician who determined that Nikki's head injuries bore the marks of shaken baby syndrome, or SBS, a theory that has been challenged as unreliable and which opponents call "junk science."
Roberson has continued to maintain his innocence, and his lawyers have said the girl died of natural causes after falling from bed while sick with a high fever and undiagnosed pneumonia.
With its order, the TCCA is now directing the lower court to consider the claims Roberson set forth in his fifth state habeas corpus petition, which argues that his case mirrors that of Andrew Roark — another parent convicted on an SBS diagnosis by the same doctor — who won a new trial last year.
TCCA Judge Bert Richardson said in a concurring opinion accompanying the order that as the court of last resort, the TCCA has a duty to allow Roberson to make his case for innocence in light of medical and scientific advancements acknowledged in Roark's case.
"We owe it to ourselves to obtain a level of certainty to match the level of finality of whatever judgment this Court deems should come to pass," he wrote. "To hold otherwise would risk a hasty judgment forever clouded by doubt."
Gretchen Sween, an attorney representing Roberson, told reporters at a press conference on Thursday afternoon that she had yet to have a chance to speak with Roberson about the stay of his execution, though she assumed he had probably heard the news "through the death row grapevine, which is quite porous."
"Robert has taken one small step back from the brink, and I just could not feel more gratitude for those who have joined us in this what really was a titanic undertaking," she said.
An SBS diagnosis is based on three internal head conditions: bleeding outside the brain, brain swelling and bleeding in the eyes. Squires testified that those characteristics, which were found in Nikki's autopsy, were consistent with such a diagnosis.
In July, Roberson's attorneys asked the TCCA to grant a hearing to present what they said was evidence that "completely debunks the notion that Nikki's death was a homicide," in light of what they described as a dramatic shift in consensus away from SBS as a reliable tool in a criminal prosecution.
The National Registry of Exonerations reports that at least 41 parents and caregivers who have been convicted based on SBS, including Roark, have been exonerated.
Article 11.073 of the Texas Code of Criminal Procedure — the state's so-called junk science law — allows convicted individuals to challenge their convictions if they can show that the scientific evidence used at trial has since been discredited, revised or supplanted by more reliable testing methods.
In the October 2024 ruling Ex Parte Roark
, the TCCA vacated Roark's conviction and granted a new trial after concluding that the underlying science used to convict him in 2000 had since evolved.Over the past year, Roberson's case attracted the attention of lawmakers on both sides of the aisle, some of whom have tried to use their subpoena power to probe SBS-based convictions under the junk science statute. The Center for Integrity in Forensic Sciences on Sept. 4 released an open letter to Texas authorities, signed by nearly two dozen exonerees who expressed support for Roberson.
In December 2022, Brian Wharton, the lead detective in the investigation into Nikki's death who testified against Roberson at trial, said in a declaration that after reviewing new evidence is the case, he believed Roberson is innocent and that the diagnosis of SBS is "a fallacy."
"We made a horrible mistake in this case," he later said.
Throughout the years representing Roberson post-conviction, his attorneys have pointed to a lack of physical evidence that pointed to trauma or showed that Nikki was beaten.
They also repeatedly called attention to Roberson's developmental disabilities, in particular autism spectrum disorder, which they say affected his criminal case. The attorneys have argued that because of Roberson's autism, hospital staff who interacted with him after he took Nikki to the emergency room mistook his behavior as a lack of emotion that his jury later interpreted as a sign of guilt.
For that reason, Roberson's case attracted the attention of autism advocacy groups. Jacquie Benestante, the executive director at the Autism Society of Texas, said at the press conference on Thursday that she was "profoundly relieved" to learn that Roberson's execution had been halted.
"Going forward, we are hoping that Texas ensures justice is informed by disability awareness and an understanding of autism," she said. "We hope that this leads to a better understanding of failures that people with developmental disabilities face when they're in the criminal justice system."
Even if the trial judge determines that a new trial is warranted in Roberson's case, it will ultimately be up to the TCCA to decide to grant one based on the lower court's recommendation.
"We have won a battle, but we have certainly not won the war," Sween said. "But quite literally, you know, our Robert lives to fight another day, and that really is a triumph."
Roberson is represented by Gretchen Sween, as well as Vanessa Potkin and Jane Pucher of The Innocence Project and Donald P. Salzman of Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom LLP.
The state is represented by Ellen Stewart-Klein of the Texas Office of the Attorney General.
The case is The State of Texas v. Robert Leslie Roberson III, case number 26162-A, in the 3rd District Court of Anderson County, Texas. The appeal is Ex Parte Robert Leslie Roberson III, case number WR-63,081-03, in the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals.
--Editing by Alanna Weissman.