Thursday morning, the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals ordered Robert Roberson be granted a stay of execution, which was scheduled to take place in seven days. The ruling marks a major shift in a case that has drawn national attention over disputed medical evidence and last-minute legal maneuver in 2024 that halted his execution 90 minutes before it was to be carried out.
Under the court’s decision, Roberson is not receiving the requested new trial to hear the new scientific and medical evidence related to the tragic 2002 death of his then-two-year-old daughter, Nikki Curtis. Instead the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals remanded Roberson’s case back to the Anderson County district court to consider whether his case warrants relief based on questions related to the debunked theory of shaken baby syndrome.
Roberson’s attorneys contend that Nikki did not die from shaken baby syndrome but rather from chronic health conditions, in particular severe pneumonia, and inappropriate medications that suppressed her breathing.
In a statement, Roberson’s attorney Gretchen Sween said she is relieved and grateful for the Criminal Court of Appeal’s ruling.
“The case is being sent back to the district court for further proceedings. Deciding that issue will, of necessity, require considering the mountain of medical records, scientific studies, expert opinions, and other evidence that proves his very ill little girl died from natural and accidental causes, not shaking or other abuse,” said Sween. “Robert adored Nikki, whose death was a tragedy, a horror compounded by Robert’s wrongful conviction that devastated his whole family. We are confident that an objective review of the science and medical evidence will show there was no crime,” she continued.
State Representative Brian Harrison (D10), who made the motion to subpoena Roberson last October, which effectively halted his execution, celebrated the ruling. “These brave Judges took their duty to seek justice seriously, even in the face of tremendous, and dishonest, political pressure to execute a potentially innocent person, who has never been given a fair trial,” said Harrison.
You can read more about the decision behind Roberson’s stay of execution in “5 Things to Know About Robert Roberson’s Stayed Execution in Texas” from the Marshall Project. The Marshall Project is a nonpartisan, nonprofit news organization that seeks to create and sustain a sense of national urgency about the U.S. criminal justice system.
