New Book of Interest: SHAKEN: The Rush to Execute an Innocent Man by John Grisham

Acclaimed nov­el­ist and for­mer crim­i­nal defense lawyer John Grisham is set to release a new book titled SHAKEN: The Rush to Execute an Innocent Man on June 9^th, 2026. The book is a non-fic­tion account of the con­tentious case of Robert Roberson, the Texas man who has been on death row for over twen­ty years and is now fac­ing exe­cu­tion in Texas in October 2025, despite strong evi­dence of his innocence. 

Mr. Roberson was con­vict­ed and sen­tenced to death in 2003 for caus­ing the death of his daugh­ter Nikki, whom pros­e­cu­tors argued died as a result of ​“Shaken Baby Syndrome” (SBS) and abuse. Since then, med­ical experts have deter­mined that Nikki died due to a severe viral infec­tion and bac­te­r­i­al pneu­mo­nia that doc­tors at the time failed to diag­nose. The National Registry of Exonerations reports that at least 41 peo­ple have been exon­er­at­ed in the United States after being wrong­ful­ly con­vict­ed based on the SBS hypothesis. 

This is not the first time Mr. Grisham has writ­ten about inno­cent peo­ple sen­tenced to death. In 2006, he pub­lished The Innocent Man, a non-fic­tion best sell­er which told the sto­ry of Ron Williamson, a for­mer home­town base­ball hero of Ada, Oklahoma, who was con­vict­ed in 1988 of rap­ing and mur­der­ing Debbie Carter. In 1999, Williamson was exon­er­at­ed of the crime after serv­ing eleven years on death row. 

Mr. Grisham has also pre­vi­ous­ly writ­ten in sup­port of Mr. Roberson. In an op-ed pub­lished pri­or to Mr. Roberson’s stay of exe­cu­tion in 2024, Mr. Grisham detailed how he was ​“wrong” about his pre­vi­ous assump­tion as a lawyer that the crim­i­nal legal sys­tem always got it right. He wrote, ​“Robert Roberson is inno­cent because the evi­dence devel­oped in recent pro­ceed­ings, but so far dis­re­gard­ed by the Texas courts, sug­gests that no crime occurred.” He con­tin­ued, ​“The wrong­ful con­vic­tion of Robert Roberson has been an ongo­ing tragedy for over twen­ty years. If it now becomes a wrong­ful exe­cu­tion, it will live in infamy.” 

In the hours lead­ing up to Mr. Roberson’s pre­vi­ous exe­cu­tion date in October 2024, he was grant­ed a stay by the Texas Supreme Court after state law­mak­ers sub­poe­naed Mr. Roberson to tes­ti­fy on a date after his exe­cu­tion was sched­uled to occur. In February 2025, his coun­sel filed a new habeas appli­ca­tion with the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals, argu­ing that relief is required because of new expert opin­ions and sci­en­tif­ic advance­ments since his ini­tial sen­tenc­ing. Despite this pend­ing motion, Attorney General Ken Paxton peti­tioned the courts for Mr. Roberson’s new exe­cu­tion date, which has been set for October 16, 2025.