A Texas man who could possibly be the primary particular person within the U.S. executed for a homicide conviction tied to a analysis of shaken child syndrome is going through a deadly injection Thursday night amid assertions by his attorneys and a various coalition of supporters who say he is harmless and was convicted on defective scientific proof.
Robert Roberson waited to listen to whether or not his execution could be stopped by both Gov. Greg Abbott or the U.S. Supreme Court — his final two avenues for a keep. He is scheduled to obtain a deadly injection on the state penitentiary in Huntsville.
Roberson, 57, was condemned for the 2002 killing of his 2-year-old daughter, Nikki Curtis, within the East Texas metropolis of Palestine. Roberson has lengthy proclaimed his innocence, backed by some notable Republican lawmakers and the lead detective on the case.
“He’s an innocent man and we’re very close to killing him for something he did not do,” mentioned Brian Wharton, the lead detective with Palestine police who investigated Curtis’ dying.
Roberson’s legal professionals waited to see if Abbott would grant Roberson a one-time 30-day reprieve. It’s the one motion Abbott can take within the case because the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles on Wednesday denied Roberson’s clemency petition.
The board voted unanimously, 6-0, to not suggest that Roberson’s dying sentence be commuted to life in jail or that his execution be delayed. All members of the board are appointed by the governor. The parole board has beneficial clemency in a dying row case solely six instances for the reason that state resumed executions in 1982.
In his practically 10 years as governor, Abbott has halted just one imminent execution, in 2018 when he spared the lifetime of Thomas Whitaker, whose father had requested that his son not be put to dying. The father had survived a taking pictures that Whitaker had masterminded.
“We pray that Governor Abbott does everything in his power to prevent the tragic, irreversible mistake of executing an innocent man,” Gretchen Sween, one in every of Roberson’s attorneys, mentioned in a press release.
A spokesperson for Abbott didn’t instantly reply to an electronic mail searching for remark.
Roberson’s legal professionals even have a keep request pending earlier than the Supreme Court. The nation’s highest courtroom has hardly ever granted Eleventh-hour reprieves to individuals on dying row.
Late Wednesday, a Texas House committee that held an all-day assembly on Roberson’s case, issued a subpoena for him to testify at a listening to subsequent week. It was not instantly identified if the committee’s request may delay Thursday’s execution. A spokesperson for the Texas Department of Criminal Justice did not instantly reply to an electronic mail.
One of those that has been pushing to cease Roberson’s execution is Texas GOP megadonor and conservative activist Doug Deason, who has been talking with Abbott’s employees.
“I believe he is innocent,” Deason wrote in a put up on X on Tuesday.
During its assembly in Austin, the Texas House Criminal Jurisprudence Committee heard testimony about Roberson’s case and whether or not a 2013 legislation created to permit individuals in jail to problem their convictions based mostly on new scientific proof was ignored in Roberson’s case.
Anderson County District Attorney Allyson Mitchell, whose workplace prosecuted Roberson, instructed the committee a courtroom listening to was held in 2022 wherein Roberson’s attorneys introduced their new proof to a decide, who rejected their claims. Mitchell mentioned the prosecution’s case confirmed Curtis had been abused by her father.
“Based on the totality of the evidence, a murder took place here. Mr. Roberson took the life of his almost 3-year-old daughter,” Mitchell mentioned.
Most of the members of the committee are a part of a bipartisan group of greater than 80 state lawmakers, together with at the very least 30 Republicans, who had requested the parole board and Abbott to cease the execution.
Roberson’s scheduled execution has renewed debate over shaken child syndrome, identified within the medical neighborhood as abusive head trauma.
His legal professionals in addition to the Texas lawmakers, medical consultants and others, together with bestselling creator John Grisham, say his conviction was based mostly on defective and now outdated scientific proof. The analysis refers to a critical mind harm brought on when a toddler’s head is harm by means of shaking or another violent affect, like being slammed towards a wall or thrown on the ground.
Roberson’s supporters don’t deny head and different accidents from youngster abuse are actual. But they are saying medical doctors misdiagnosed Curtis’ accidents as being associated to shaken child syndrome and that new proof has proven the woman died from problems associated to extreme pneumonia.
Roberson’s attorneys say he was wrongly arrested and later convicted after taking his daughter to a hospital. They say she had fallen away from bed in Roberson’s residence after being severely in poor health for every week.
Roberson’s legal professionals have additionally prompt his autism, which was undiagnosed on the time of his daughter’s dying, was used towards him as authorities grew to become suspicious of him due to his lack of emotion over what had occurred to her. Autism impacts how individuals talk and work together with others.
The American Academy of Pediatrics, different medical organizations and prosecutors say the analysis of shaken child syndrome is legitimate and that medical doctors take a look at all potential issues, together with any diseases, when figuring out if accidents have been attributable to it.
Roberson’s scheduled execution would come lower than a month after Missouri put to dying Marcellus Williams amid lingering questions on his guilt and whether or not his dying sentence ought to have as an alternative been commuted to life in jail. Williams was convicted within the 1998 killing of Lisha Gayle, a social employee and former St. Louis Post-Dispatch reporter.
Roberson’s execution is scheduled to happen on the identical day Alabama is ready to execute Derrick Dearman, condemned for killing 5 individuals with an ax and gun throughout a 2016 drug-fueled rampage.
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https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/ap-greg-abbott-houston-huntsville-palestine-b2630686.html