Following a flood of media coverage and days of intense legal maneuvering, Texas father Robert Roberson is still alive, after the state supreme court issued a temporary reprieve minutes before he was scheduled to be executed last evening.
All of Robert’s appeals and petitions had been denied, but on Wednesday the Criminal Jurisprudence Committee in the state’s House issued a subpoena for Roberson to appear for a hearing next Monday, a move that raised a jurisdictional dispute and led to a series of motions, counter-motions, and, eventually, a stay, for now.
“The vast team fighting for Robert Roberson – people all across Texas, the country, and the world – are elated tonight that a contingent of brave, bipartisan Texas lawmakers chose to dig deep into the facts of Robert’s case that no court had yet considered and recognized that his life was worth fighting for,” Roberson’s attorney Gretchen Sween said Thursday night.
Roberson enjoys the support of the Innocence Project; a number of physicians, scientists, and attorneys who question the SBS hypothesis; a majority of the Texas state legislators; and his own friends and family as well as other wrongly accused families, autism and disability-rights groups, and attorney/novelist John Grisham.
For more from this blog on Robert’s case, please see Looming Execution in Texas Stirs Action Worldwide and Hustling to Stop an Execution. If you haven’t yet signed the Innocence Project petition to stop the execution, the petition is still active and the number of signers is still growing.
Meanwhile, the case has triggered local, national, and international media coverage, shining a much-needed spotlight on the debate surrounding Shaken Baby Syndrome. Some of the news treatments:
- CNN: How a stunning 11th-hour race to save a Texas death row inmate from execution in ‘shaken baby’ case unfolded
- Texas Tribune: Texas Supreme Court temporarily stops Robert Roberson’s execution
- The Guardian: Texas supreme court blocks execution of man in late-night ruling
- CBS: Texas Supreme Court orders last-minute stay of execution for Robert Roberson
- Reuters: Texas top court blocks execution of man in shaken baby syndrome case
- BBC: Texas judge blocks execution of man in shaken baby case
- Austin American Statesman: In stunning move, Texas Supreme Court halts Robert Roberson execution in ‘shaken baby’ case
- AP: Texas was about to execute Robert Roberson. Then a last-ditch tactic bought him more time
- New York Times: What We Know About the Execution Pending in the Shaken Baby Case
-Sue Luttner
If you are not familiar with the debate around Shaken Baby Syndrome/Abusive Head Trauma, please see the home page of this site.
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We have been watching this case, it has so many of the false conclusions that were used in Jason’s case. The medical field and legal system have got to do better! Hopefully someone will have the courage to save Robert’s life.
I am so thankful this was halted and for all who work so hard to bring truth to this case. May the execution never happen and miracles for Robert.
Thanks, Sue, for your continued coverage of this sad and horrifying miscarriage of justice. I had given up hope as it sounded as if there were no options left. While all of these cases are upsetting, none has been quite as unsettling as this. “Unsettling” honestly does not describe how deeply this case has affected me. That any government – let alone in the U.S. – would deliberately kill someone in the presence of so much doubt regarding their guilt is abhorrent. And in the case of Robert Roberson, his innocence seems almost certain. I find it difficult to contain my contempt.
As you are aware, Dr. Francis Green diagnosed this child with pneumonia, just as he had for a similar case in Michigan, ultimately leading to an exoneration. While that person is now free, Roberson’s execution seems all but certain, at least by the standards of the Texas judicial system. How is this equal justice? Because there is just a little more doubt of his innocence?
And finally I have to ask what this case will do to those involved that now believe in his innocence. How will the 12 jurors feel knowing that they helped kill an innocent man? That’s not something most people can simply brush aside. His state-sanctioned murder will take a toll on them as well. Life will go on for them, but many may never be quite the same. And what lies must those directly involved in his execution tell themselves to go on living their lives? It will take a toll on many lives and there is no one counting all of them.
We are human beings. Our justice system is a system designed, maintained, and run by human beings. As individuals, we have a conscience. Collectively, it seems we do not.
Thank you, Jeremy. And thank you for sticking with the struggle.
Dear Sue, I signed the petition and have been dreading that Texas was going to execute this innocent man. Thank you for sharing the news of the reprieve. I hope it will be permanent! Rosemary
Dear Sue, I signed the petition and have been dreading that Texas was going to execute this innocent man. Thank you for sharing the news of the reprieve. I hope it will be permanent! Rosemary
Sickening and sad thar it’s how he had to get the reprieve 90 minutes before execution. I only hope and pray it’s not going to remain temporary.