Last week on "Texas Matters," we brought you an in-depth report on Texas death row inmate Robert Roberson. He is facing an execution date of Oct. 17 for a crime that experts say never happened.
As of Friday morning, Roberson is still on schedule to be executed in a matter of days.
Roberson’s conviction for the murder of his 2-year-old daughter, Nikki, was based on junk science.
Roberson said he assumed the legal system would realize he didn’t do anything wrong.
“I thought they was going to figure it out and do what's right. I thought we had a fair and criminal justice system, but I learned a lot different now since what happened all these years. I thought everything my mom kept telling me—if you didn't do nothing it'd get worked out, it'd get worked out. And they tried to get me to plead for life sentence three times. I'm not going to take no life sentence and I'm not going to plead out to nothing I didn't do,” he said.
There is a startling lack of evidence that Roberson did anything wrong. Little Nikki had multiple chronic health conditions, and during the week of her death, she had a fever of 104.5. In recent years, medical experts reexamined Nikki’s lung tissue and found that she was suffering from two kinds of pneumonia which caused sepsis and then septic shock.
While on death row interviewing Roberson, I asked him why—when there was all this evidence that points to Nikki dying due to her frail state—why was he blamed for the death and sentenced to die for it? He said it has everything to do with his hometown of Palestine, Texas.
“You ever heard of 'the good old boys'? They're all about 'the good old boys.' They tried to cover it from one another like that judge, she did some illegal, she tried to get back in there after she retired, and she did it too soon. She did it too soon. And that's illegal. And that's not just with me. That's other people that happened to and they try to cover up for the other person. Their mess-ups, their wrongs. They don't want to admit it, just like the head D.A. But she'd rather see a person executed and have other people cover up for her because her and judge that tried to come back home, that did come back home. They had set some other deals that happened way before me or after me also. And then there's some of the judges. They're in cahoots with each other. So if you know what 'good old boy' system is,” said Roberson.
Let me break that down for you. The judge Roberson is referring to is Judge Deborah Oakes Evans.
And the question is —was she improperly assigned to overseeing this case? Evans signed the warrant that set Roberson's execution date.
Roberson’s attorney Gretchen Sween argues that Evans wasn’t following the proper procedure, and she should be removed under Texas law due to impartiality. That wouldn’t get Roberson off death row, but it would delay the execution.
There will be a hearing on Tuesday, Oct. 15 in Anderson County. Judge Alfonso Charles, presiding judge of the Tenth Administrative Judicial Region, will preside over the hearing to decide if Evans should be removed from the case—and he could decide to take away the possible "unlawful" execution warrant.
The D.A. Roberson mentioned is Allyson Mitchell—the Republican district attorney of Anderson County. I have reached out to her asking for comment, and there was no response. Mitchell has not explained to the public why she is doggedly seeking Roberson’s execution, even in the face of clear evidence of actual innocence.
And there has been another development— in the area of shaken baby syndrome and junk science.
This week the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals granted a new trial for Texan Andrew Roark on the grounds that his 2000 conviction in a Shaken Baby case must be vacated because it was based on scientific understanding that has since evolved.
The Court also found that a new trial today for Roark “would likely yield an acquittal.”
Roberson’s attorney Gretchen Sween reacted saying Roark’s case and Roberson’s case are virtually identical. Including the testimony from the very same child abuse specialist—that was used to convict Roberson.
She also believes that Roberson should be awarded a new trial.
And they have filed an emergency motion to stay Roberson’s October 17 execution date.
I asked Roberson if he thought the Texas legal system was fair.
“No sir. Not the way it is now,” Roberson said.
“And I think it would be good they speak out the legislatures to try to change the law, change different processing steps and to make sure this don't happen to nobody else. And I think to do that also, I think they won't never know for sure if anybody else that's actually innocent that would be not executed. So I believe to keep from that other people and stuff that may happen again to abolish the deaths of penalty or to put more to on it for them to look at it, to research and investigate all that stuff. Again, not just for me but for other people also,” he said.
Injured Special Ed Teachers
Special education teachers in San Antonio’s largest school district say they often get hurt at work. They filed a formal complaint alleging that the death of an instructional assistant earlier this year is part of a widespread pattern of student-caused injuries at Northside ISD.
TPR education reporter Camille Phillips obtained a copy of the grievance and spoke with teachers, and the assistant’s widow, about their concerns.
Who are the pollsters polling?
At this point in election season, it seems like there’s a new political poll released practically every day—and you may have received at least one call labeled “political survey” popping up on your caller ID.
If you’re like most people, you ignored it.
So if you're not taking these calls, who is? Who are the pollsters polling? And how can they tell if they’re doing it right?
Texas Newsroom political reporter Blaise Gainey takes a look.
Ham radio to the rescue
During Hurricane Helene and Hurricane Milton volunteer amateur radio operators played a crucial role in communications.
TPR’s own amateur radio operator, Jerry Clayton, has more.
