90 minutes after being executed for the death of his daughter, order against autistic prisoner is suspended

The Supreme Court of Texas, in the southern United States, accepted a last-minute request to suspend the execution of Robert Roberson this Thursday, October 17, amid insistent efforts by this autistic man to prove his innocence in the death of his two year old daughter.

In his ruling, a judge from the state’s highest court accepted the request of local Democratic and Republican legislators for Roberson to appear before a committee of the Texas House of Representatives that evaluates his case, leaving the execution on hold, although his sentence remains. standing.

“If the sentence is carried out, the witness obviously cannot appear,” said Judge Evan Young.

Roberson, 57, was convicted of causing the death of his daughter Nikki in 2002, whom he had taken to the hospital in serious condition. But he denies the facts and even one of his accusers has recanted and asked for forgiveness.

“The great team fighting for Robert Roberson is elated” because a group of Texas legislators “decided to thoroughly investigate his case, which no court had considered until now, and recognized that his life was worth fighting for,” he said Thursday. Roberson’s attorney, Gretchen Sween, said in a statement. “Robert lives to fight another day,” he added.

“After being informed of the suspension, Roberson praised God and thanked those who supported him,” said a spokeswoman for the Texas Department of Criminal Justice.

The cause of death of the girl, who suffered from a chronic illness, She was diagnosed in the hospital as shaken baby syndrome, that is, she had injuries from shaking allegedly carried out by the father.

According to Sween, That diagnosis was erroneous because the minor died from pneumonia that worsened when the doctors prescribed inadequate treatment. has said.

There is “overwhelming new scientific and medical evidence” showing that the girl died of “natural and accidental causes, not abuse,” he had recently explained.

In this last week the Texas Pardon Committee had unanimously denied a request from lawyers to recommend that the governor, the conservative Greg Abbott, grant him clemency.

Although Abbott could not grant clemency without the committee’s consent, he could postpone the execution for 30 days, but he did not make a ruling.

The US Supreme Court, with a conservative majority, had also denied a request to stay his execution.

“The idea that Nikki’s death was caused by abuse – in the form of violent shaking and perhaps a forceful blow – was presumed based on medical beliefs current at the time that have since been shown to lack scientific support,” Sween had explained in his petition to the Supreme Court.

As a last resort, a committee of Texas Republican and Democratic state representatives asked the court to allow them to interview Roberson before his execution. The request was initially accepted by a district judge in Texas, then rejected by an appeals court and finally accepted by a state Supreme Court justice.

After his conviction, Roberson was diagnosed with autism, something authorities say explains the defendant’s cold demeanor, which at the time was taken as a sign of his guilt.. “Robert is an innocent man,” they consider.

Meanwhile, a few days ago, inmate Derrick Dearman, 36, received lethal injection in Alabama, convicted of the confessed murder in 2016 of five people who were related to his girlfriend and who did not appeal his sentence.

“The horrifying facts of this case deserved the maximum punishment,” said Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall.

Roberson’s case drew the attention of the Innocence Project, which works to overturn wrongful convictions, as well as bestselling American novelist John Grisham, Texas lawmakers and medical experts.

Among those seeking to stop his execution is also the man who put him behind bars: Brian Wharton, the former chief detective who had the case in his hands.

“Knowing everything I know now, I am firmly convinced that Robert is an innocent man“Wharton said at a recent press conference.

“I will always be tormented by the role I played in helping the State put this innocent man on death row (…). Robert’s case will always be a burden on my heart and soul.“he added.

“The surprising thing about Robert’s case is that there was no crime,” Grisham said.

Kate Judson of the Center for Integrity in Forensic Sciences said more than 30 parents and caregivers in 18 U.S. states have been exonerated after being wrongfully convicted using the “unscientific” shaken baby argument.

So far in 2024, 20 convicts have been executed in the United States.