"Texas's top criminal court again paused the execution of Robert Roberson, just days before he was scheduled to become the first person in the US put to death for a murder conviction tied to the diagnosis of shaken baby syndrome. This was the third execution date that Roberson's lawyers have been able to stay since 2016, including an attempt nearly a year ago that was stopped by an unprecedented intervention from a bipartisan group of Texas lawmakers who believe he is innocent."
"Prosecutors at Roberson's 2003 trial argued that he hit his two-year-old daughter Nikki Curtis and violently shook her, causing severe head trauma. They said she died from injuries related to shaken baby syndrome. Roberson has long proclaimed his innocence, telling the Associated Press in an interview from death row in Livingston, Texas, that he never abused his daughter. I never shook her or hit her, he said."
The Texas court of criminal appeals granted a stay of execution for Robert Roberson days before a scheduled lethal injection set for 16 October. Roberson faced a murder conviction from a 2003 trial in which prosecutors said he hit and violently shook his two-year-old daughter, causing fatal head trauma attributed to shaken baby syndrome. Roberson has consistently maintained his innocence and his lawyers have pursued multiple stays and appeals since 2016, including petitions to state and federal courts, the US Supreme Court, the Texas board of pardons and paroles, and the governor. Lawyers argue the conviction relied on flawed, outdated science and have presented what they describe as new legal and scientific developments to seek a new trial.
Read at www.theguardian.com
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