Articles of Interest: Lead Detective on Robert Roberson’s Case Now Believes He Is Innocent

Brian Wharton, who was the lead detec­tive in Palestine, Texas at the time of Robert Roberson’s con­vic­tion for the death of his two-year-old daugh­ter Nikki, now believes Mr. Roberson is inno­cent and sup­ports abo­li­tion of the death penal­ty. Mr. Wharton said in a video for The New York Times that there is ​“unas­sail­able doubt” that Mr. Roberson is guilty.

In the video, Mr. Wharton recounts his role in the inves­ti­ga­tion of Nikki’s death, describ­ing how he believed he was doing the right thing, but now sees that the evi­dence against Mr. Roberson was miss­ing key con­text, includ­ing Mr. Roberson’s undi­ag­nosed autism and Nikki’s under­ly­ing health con­di­tions, and relied on the now-debunked the­o­ry of shak­en baby syn­drome. Mr. Wharton now believes the death penal­ty should be abol­ished. ​“We as human beings are inca­pable of pro­duc­ing the kind of fair­ness and jus­tice required to take someone’s life,” he said.

Mr. Roberson is sched­uled to be exe­cut­ed on October 17, 2024.