Death Row

Texas’ junk science statute has remained hamstrung for the last decade. So too have other criminal justice reforms, despite efforts from the Texas House.

An unusual legal move has bought more time for a Texas man who was set to be executed Thursday evening.

Robert Roberson is scheduled to die Oct 17. He is set to be executed by the state of Texas for a crime that experts say didn’t happen. There is an overwhelming amount of evidence that indicates that Roberson’s two-year-old daughter, Nikki, did not die from physical abuse but that instead she died from a chronic health condition and pneumonia.

Robert Roberson is scheduled to be put to death on Oct. 17 in what would be the nation’s first execution for the now debunked theory. It claimed that violently shaking a baby can result in fatal brain damage but without leaving any other signs of physical trauma like broken bones or neck injuries.

Robert Roberson is due to be executed on October 17. The East Texas man was convicted of the shaken baby syndrome death of this two-year old daughter, Nikki. But shaken baby syndrome is now considered to be junk science, and evidence shows that Nikki died from a chronic illness. I spoke with Roberson on Texas death row to hear his story.

Robert Roberson is facing execution by lethal injection on Oct. 17, 2024, for the death of his two-year-old daughter. However, his attorneys say there is new evidence that proves he's innocent.

An anti-death penalty organization is calling for a full investigation into a San Antonio-based compounding pharmacy that supplies Texas with its execution drug.

Charles Don Flores is on death row for a 1998 Farmers Branch murder. A professor says his and others' research on witness memory could prove Flores' innocence.

The state of Texas on Thursday executed Brent Ray Brewer for the 1990 robbery and murder of Robert Doyle Laminack in Amarillo. As Brewer faced his execution, his final words expressed remorse for the murder: "I hope you find peace."

“Texas seems poised to execute a man who committed no crime except that he was a man with autism who was unable to explain the very complicated medical condition of his two-year-old child,” Attorney Gretchen Sweden told TPR.