ZOË RANEY—On October 17, 2024, the Texas Supreme Court suddenly halted the execution of Robert Roberson with less than two hours to spare. Roberson had been on death row in Texas for the murder of his two-year-old daughter, who died in 2002, purportedly from Shaken Baby Syndrome (SBS). The Texas Supreme Court’s action came as a shock to Roberson, who had been awaiting a final determination on his execution from a holding cell outside of an execution chamber.
The last-minute shake-up can be attributed to a unique move by legislators; after Roberson’s failed petitions to both Governor Greg Abbott and the Texas Board of Pardons and Parole for clemency, as well as a failed application for a stay of execution and petition for habeas corpus in the United States Supreme Court, the bipartisan Texas House Committee on Criminal Jurisprudence subpoenaed him for testimony. On the night of Roberson’s scheduled execution, the Committee’s move was upheld by a district judge, who was overruled by the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals, before the Texas Supreme Court issued the temporary stay of execution just hours before Roberson was scheduled to die by lethal injection.
Amidst serious concern for the integrity of his conviction, the nation has taken a significant interest in Roberson’s case. SBS is now a discredited medical theory in the case, and new scientific evidence presents an alternate explanation for the death of Roberson’s daughter, Nikki. The Innocence Project explains that the SBS theory was put forth by the American Academy of Pediatrics in a 2001 position paper lacking scientific or peer-reviewed evidence. SBS assumed that the presence of a triad of symptoms (subdural bleeding, retinal bleeding, and brain swelling) meant a child had been violently shaken and abused. By 2009, the AAP had departed from the SBS hypothesis. As of 2024, at least 32 individuals have been exonerated for wrongful conviction under the SBS theory.
Lacking a solid foundation on the SBS theory, the case against Roberson falls apart. His daughter, Nikki, had a history of antibiotic resistance and breathing apnea, and was suffering from a rare form of pneumonia when she died. Roberson had taken her to the hospital twice in the days leading up to her death, where doctors prescribed her Phenergan and codeine. In her 10-page statement regarding the Supreme Court’s denial of Roberson’s application to stay his execution, Justice Sotomayor warned against the dangers of both medicines: Phenergan, which now comes with an FDA warning against use in children under two years of age because it can lead to “fatal respiratory depression,” and codeine, which can lead to slowed, difficult breathing or death, particularly in children.
Tragically, on the night of Nikki’s death, Roberson woke up to find her blue, not breathing, and unresponsive. Despite immediately taking her to the hospital, Roberson was treated with suspicion from the start. Roberson has since been diagnosed with autism, but at the time of Nikki’s death, his behavior was interpreted against him. Hospital staff and police found his lack of emotion and “deviations from social norms” to indicate callousness and remorselessness, but with an autism diagnosis, this behavior is much less indicative of abuse. Roberson’s behavior, coupled with Nikki’s demonstrating the triad of SBS symptoms, led hospital staff to diagnose Nikki with SBS, which indicated abuse. Yet, the Innocence Project provides a different theory for Nikki’s symptoms and resulting death: she was suffering from pneumonia, had toxic levels of Phenergan in her system, and Roberson reported that she had fallen off his bed on the night of her death, which substantiates Nikki’s initial CAT scans showing a minor impact on her head.
Moreover, the autopsy report declaring Nikki’s cause of death to be blunt force head trauma was conducted with incomplete information. The medical examiner was not aware of her medical history, her toxicology results, or the minor impact shown on the CAT scan when she arrivedat the hospital. Moreover, Nikki had undergone extensive medical treatment in efforts to save her life—including surgical placement of a pressure monitor on her skull—which could have contributed to bruising, which was relied on for the SBS diagnosis, but was unattributable to Roberson.
Despite serious, valid questions concerning the validity of the SBS conviction, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton still affirms his belief in Roberson’s guilt, arguing that Roberson was not in fact convicted based on the SBS theory, but rather on the theory that he violently beat Nikki to death. But a juror who was called to testify before the Texas House Committee on October 21 stated that everything presented to them was about SBS, and told lawmakers that the jury would have produced a different outcome with current scientific information about SBS and an awareness of Nikki’s medical history.
The vehemence of Attorney General Paxton’s belief in Roberson’s guilt spurred a 16-page response from the Texas House Committee calling his statements “misleading and in large part simply untrue,” stating that Attorney General Paxton departs from the record and ignores the new evidence uncovered since trial. Since then, the Committee has vowed not to quit investigating Roberson’s case, and no new execution date has been set. As Roberson’s life hangs in the balance, it is easy to lose sight of the man behind the headlines. Roberson is an autistic man who lost his daughter and has served two decades on death row—he may very well be a victim himself. There should be no question as to the guilt of a man set to be executed. Now, justice must prevail over an outdated faith in a fallible system.
