Famed author John Grisham and a bipartisan group of 86 lawmakers think Texas is about to make a big mistake: executing an innocent man.
The man in question is Robert Roberson, 57, who has been on death row for allegedly shaking to death his 2-year-old daughter, Nikki, for more than 20 years. But a lot of people say it’s based on outdated junk science and that his daughter died an unfortunate natural death.
Roberson’s execution date is Oct. 17, and he’d be the first person in the U.S. executed on the basis of “shaken baby syndrome” — which has been widely debunked.
Grisham called Roberson’s case “infuriating.”
“What’s amazing about Robert’s case is that there was no crime,” Grisham said, according to The Guardian. “In most death conviction cases, you’ve got a murder and somebody did it, but in Robert’s case there was no crime and yet we’re about to kill somebody for it in Texas.”
Even the lead detective in Roberson’s case now admits he got it wrong.
Brian Wharton, the former chief of detectives for the Palestine, Texas, police department told KVUE: “I made some assumptions about Robert that were clearly incorrect … I’m embarrassed about myself that I did not see him as he is. Back then, it might have changed something.”
Wharton said that he accepted the explanation of a medical examiner and a pediatrician who told detectives that the child’s death was due to the shaken baby syndrome.
“I will forever be haunted by my participation in his prosecution, his arrest and prosecution,” Wharton added. “I am firmly convinced that Robert is an innocent man.”
Roberson’s lawyers have filed a clemency petition with the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles calling for his death sentence to be commuted, which argues that when Roberson’s comatose daughter was rushed to the hospital in 2002, medical personnel concluded she’d been violently shaken — without looking at her medical record. It alleged that both law enforcement and doctors missed the fact that the girl had a fever of 104.5 degrees, along with undiagnosed pneumonia. Importantly, the petition notes that she was given drugs that are now deemed life-threatening for kids.
Meanwhile, 86 Texas lawmakers signed a letter asking the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles to recommend clemency for Roberson, the Texas Tribune reported.
The lawmakers cited “voluminous new scientific evidence” that they said demonstrates Robersons innocence and that his daughter’s death was natural and accidental.
“It should shock all Texans that we are barreling towards an execution in the face of this new evidence,” the lawmakers wrote. “Other states look to Texas as a leader for both enforcing the rule of law and addressing wrongful convictions. We now look to you to prevent our state from tarnishing that reputation by allowing this execution to proceed.”
