A convicted Texas man will die this month in the nation’s first execution.”shaken baby syndrome,” verified diagnosis successfully challenged in some criminal cases.
After he filed a pardon application In the state ahead of his scheduled Oct. 17 execution, Robert Roberson told NBC News anchor Lester Holt in an interview that aired Thursday that he urged Texas Gov. Greg Abbott to pardon him and “let me go home.”
For more on this story, watch “NBC Nightly News with Lester Holt” tonight at 6:30 PM ET/5:30 PM CT.
“Look at the support I’ve gotten, Mr. Governor, and I just hope, I pray, that you do the right thing,” said Roberson, who was charged with capital murder in the 2002 death of her 2-year-old daughter.
The Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles, which declined to comment, must first recommend a pardon to the governor.
Abbott used his pardon powers sparingly. He he did so in Mayat that time pardoned an army sergeant convicted of murder the fatal shooting of a Black Lives Matter protester in 2020 last year.
His office did not respond to requests for comment.
Texas nearly executed Roberson in 2016, but the process was halted days ago by the state’s highest criminal court, allowing a lower court to hold an evidentiary hearing. Last year, the state Court of Criminal Appeals denied Roberson’s motion for a new trial, unconvinced by any new scientific information, and last month he also fired demanded the suspension of the execution.
Roberson, 57, said he hopes to sway support from a bipartisan coalition of Abbott, including state lawmakers, medical experts and even the original detective who testified against him in his case but now believes no wrongdoing was committed.
“I would like the public to know that I am innocent,” Roberson told Holt. “I’m not guilty of this.”
Evidence in court
Roberson said that in the early morning hours of Jan. 31, 2002, he woke up to a “strange scream” in his East Texas home and saw his daughter, Nikki, fall out of bed. He comforted her and they fell asleep again, according to court documents.
But hours later, Roberson woke up to find Nikki not breathing and her lips looking blue. He took him to the emergency room, where doctors concluded that he had signs of brain death. He was pronounced dead the next day.
Based on his condition, head trauma that included bleeding, brain swelling and retinal hemorrhages, a doctor in Dallas determined that he died from a condition called shaken baby syndrome, where the child was shaken so violently. causes head trauma.
The lead detective on the case, Brian Wharton, accepted the diagnosis of shaken baby syndrome, and Roberson was arrested before an autopsy was completed.
Wharton testified against Roberson in the 2003 murder trial. Prosecutors said they believe Roberson intentionally shook Nikki, causing bruising and blunt force trauma, and that she appeared almost emotionless when she was taken to the hospital.
Roberson has since attributed his “seemingly blank reaction” to autism spectrum disorder, which he was diagnosed with in 2018. In addition, his defense attorneys were not allowed to have a medical examiner testify at his trial regarding his “psychiatric” claims. interruptions caused by brain damage”.
Changing science
The concept of shaken baby syndrome began in the 1970s. Scientists have theorized that if certain symptoms are detected, it could explain severe head injuries in infants.
But the medical science — and the term — has evolved over the years, said Kate Judson, executive director of the nonprofit Center for Integrity in Forensic Sciences. At a recent press conference organized by Roberson’s attorneys, Judson said that “other events such as a short fall with a blow to the head or many natural illnesses like pneumonia” are now understood to explain many of the symptoms previously believed to be indicative of abuse.
In 2009, the American Academy of Pediatrics changed the name of shaken baby syndrome to the more broadly defined abusive head injury to include injuries caused by mechanisms other than concussion alone.
But even Dr., a professor of pediatrics at the Yale School of Medicine, a member of the American Academy of Pediatrics’ Executive Council on Child Abuse and Neglect. Experts who support the scientific validity of blunt force trauma, such as Andie Asnes, caution that the diagnosis is complex and requires extensive analysis.
“Context is absolutely critical when making a diagnosis of traumatic brain injury. No one can make that diagnosis without a lot of other important information,” Asnes said. “In other words, I can’t tell them what happened unless I hear an explanation from someone who may have just seen an injury, looked at an injured child, and seen what happened to them.”
He added that the child’s medical history was “critical to the diagnosis.”
While “shaking a baby is extremely dangerous,” Asnes said, simply looking for signs of bleeding, brain swelling and retinal hemorrhages would be “a significant oversimplification of the multi-step, thoughtful process that leads to the ultimate diagnosis of wrongful brain injury.” .”
Asnes told NBC News that he was not familiar with Roberson’s case and could not comment on the specifics of the conviction.
According to one study, hundreds of possible cases of shaken babies and abusive head trauma are reported to hospitals in the United States each year. non-profit advocacy group. While there have been criminal cases involving such injuries that have led to convictions, scrutiny of medical testimony has also resulted in reversals: since 1992, at least 34 defendants have subsequently been acquitted of claims of shaken baby syndrome or blunt force trauma. National Registry of Exonerations, which tracks sentences for wrongful convictions.
Robert Dunham, director of the Death Penalty Policy Project, an independent investigative program, and special counsel at the nonprofit law firm Phillips Black, said Roberson would be the first person executed in the United States based on a diagnosis of a shaken baby. A man on death row in Mississippi for diagnosing a shaken baby was sentenced to life imprisonment in 2018 after the evidence was re-examined.
The real reasons
Attorney Gretchen Sween, who joined Roberson’s case about two months before he was executed in 2016, said she was surprised by how little investigators took into account Nikki’s past health problems. Nicky was chronically ill and had been hospitalized numerous times before collapsing due to persistent breathing problems and fever.
“The shaken baby concept didn’t come together,” Sween said. “But also looking at the medical records, it was clear that this was a very, very sick child. And everybody in court denied that.”
The defense claims, based on re-analyzed post-mortem reports, that Nikki suffered from undiagnosed pneumonia, which interfered with her ability to receive oxygen and caused swelling in her brain, and that she was given high levels of medication. is no longer defined for children as young as it is.
Wharton, a former police detective in Roberson’s case, said she thought Roberson’s “flat affect” meant he was “hiding something” while his daughter was in the hospital.
After Roberson’s sentencing, Wharton said she had a better understanding of Nikki’s diagnosis and wished she had known more about her medical history in the first place.
In an interview with Holt, Wharton said she used her background to defend Roberson.
“I’m nothing short of Robert,” said Wharton, who retired from law enforcement to attend theological seminary. “My life in law enforcement and my life in general has always been about truth and hopefully justice, and we are at a point where the truth about Robert is being avoided and justice is not being served.”
Roberson told Holt he was grateful for the support. He is no longer angry about the years he spent in prison and the way he was treated when his daughter died. After her mother lost custody due to personal issues, he was a single father to care for Nikki.
Prayer and forgiveness help her stay positive, she said.
“It just hurts,” Roberson said. “If I don’t forgive, it hurts me, it keeps me bitter.”