The Texas Supreme Court on Thursday issued a last-minute stay of execution for an autistic man whose murder conviction was based on what his lawyers say was a misdiagnosis of “shaken baby syndrome.”
Robert Roberson, 57, was scheduled to die by lethal injection at the state prison in Huntsville on Thursday for the February 2002 death of his 2-year-old daughter, Nikki.
But the Texas Supreme Court temporarily stayed the execution after an appeal from Texas lawmakers who issued a subpoena for Roberson so he could testify before a House committee considering his conviction.
“If the sentence is carried out, it is clear that the witness will not be able to attend,” Judge Evan Young wrote.
A bipartisan group of 86 Texas lawmakers has urged Roberson to be pardoned, citing “vast new scientific evidence” that casts doubt on his guilt, and the panel has asked him to be called to testify on Monday.
Roberson is one of two death row inmates scheduled to be executed in the United States on Thursday.
According to the Mayo Clinic, shaken baby syndrome is a serious brain injury caused by vigorously shaking an infant or young child.
Roberson maintained his innocence, and his lawyer, Gretchen Swain, said there was “conclusive new medical and scientific evidence” showing that his daughter died of “natural and accidental causes, not abuse.”
The diagnosis of shaken baby syndrome, made at the hospital where Roberson’s chronically ill daughter died, was wrong and the cause of death was actually pneumonia, which was worsened when doctors prescribed the wrong medication, Swain said.
But his legal efforts were thwarted by a Texas Supreme Court decision.
The Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles declined by a vote of 6 to 0 to recommend a clemency for Roberson, and the U.S. Supreme Court also denied his request for a stay of execution, denying it without comment.
Roberson’s case has drawn the attention of the Innocence Project, which works to overturn wrongful convictions, as well as best-selling American novelist John Grisham, and Texas lawmakers and medical experts.
Roberson will be the first person to be executed in the United States on a conviction for shaken baby syndrome, according to his attorney.
Swain said Roberson’s autism spectrum disorder, which was not diagnosed until 2018, contributed to his arrest and conviction.
“It is possible that Mr. Roberson is not on death row today, but rather because of his autism,” she said.
Swain said staff at the hospital where his daughter was admitted did not know he was autistic and “judged his flat affect as a sign of guilt.”
There were 20 executions in the United States this year, including five in Alabama.