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The State of Texas is preparing to execute Robert Roberson next month. In 2002 Roberson was convicted of the shaken baby death of his two-year-old daughter, Nikki.
Last year, Roberson came within 90 minutes of being executed. But new analysis of medical evidence shows that Nikki died from an illness and not abuse.
The Center for Integrity in Forensic Sciences (CIFS) is calling on Texas authorities to prevent what they say is the wrongful execution of Roberson. He is scheduled to die on October 16.
Katherine Judson, Director of CIFS, said science proves Robert Roberson did not harm his daughter.
“In the two decades that have passed since Mr. Roberson's trial, evidence-based science has roundly debunked the version of the shaken baby syndrome hypothesis that was put before his jury,” Judson said.
In an open letter CIFS and a group of 20 exonerees urged Texas authorities to do everything in their power to prevent the execution of Roberson. Several of the signatories were wrongfully convicted under the now-discredited shaken baby syndrome hypothesis, including Josh Burns.
Burns was convicted in Michigan of shaken baby syndrome (SBS) of his infant daughter in 2014 but was later exonerated after his state’s Conviction Integrity Unit investigated the case. Based on the new science of SBS prosecutors agreed to vacate Josh’s conviction and dismissed the child abuse charge.
“Some of us sought medical help for a sick or injured child, only to be blindsided by abuse accusations stemming from hasty, scientifically dubious diagnoses, including SBS. In the cruelest cases, while grieving the loss of a child, we were unjustly charged with murder, convicted, and sentenced despite considerable reasons to doubt the allegations and despite medical alternatives for the child’s condition. This is what happened to Robert,” Burns said.
Burns said shaken baby syndrome has been debunked by numerous medical and judicial communities and shouldn’t be used in a capital murder case.
“Robert once again faces execution. How is this possible? His case is an extreme example of the harm that can be caused by medical misdiagnosis of child abuse resulting from a rush of judgment in the face of tragic and complex medical crises,” he said.
A member of the San Antonio Four is joining the outcry in support of Roberson. Anna Vasquez along with three friends were wrongfully convicted of sexual assault in the mid-1990s and spent 14 years in prison before being exonerated. Vasquez said debunked medical science was used against her and this is what is happening to Roberson. A key factor in the convictions was medically inaccurate testimony from a medical examiner who later recanted her testimony. At the time, she claimed that scarring found on one of the girls was consistent with sexual trauma, a finding that was later debunked.
“I do know how it feels to be wrongfully convicted —asking for help—looking for light at the end of the tunnel, and it’s not there. The difference between myself and Robert (Roberson) is that this could be fatally wrong. This man does not deserve to die,” she said.
The co-founder of CIFS Keith Findley, emeritus professor at the University of Wisconsin Law School and the author of the first multi-disciplinary treatise on SBS/AHT said, “All available evidence shows that Mr. Roberson’s daughter’s death was not a crime. Texas should not be afraid to admit when a mistake has been made.”
Concerns about Roberson’s innocence have generated a groundswell of support in Texas, nationally, and internationally; he was nearly executed last year but was spared through the intervention of a bipartisan group of Texas lawmakers.
According to the National Registry of Exonerations, there have been at least 41 people exonerated in the United States after being wrongfully convicted on the basis of the shaken baby syndrome hypothesis.
Roberson’s case is currently before the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals where his lawyers are seeking a new trial based on the new medical evidence.
