Entries tagged with “Robert Roberson”
Executions
Mar 16, 2026
The New York Times Editorial Board Condemns Secrecy, Arbitrariness of U.S. Death Penalty
The New York Times editorial board published an article on March 13, 2026, condemning use of the death penalty in the country as secretive, arbitrary, and unjust. Relying heavily on research and data maintained by the Death Penalty Information Center, the board describes the events of 2025, with its sharp increase in executions, as a “dark new period” in the nation’s history. The board attributes much of the surge to Florida, which alone carried out 19 executions in 2025 alongside broader…
Jan 13, 2026
Texas Report Highlights Decline of New Death Sentences and Executions
For decades, Texas performed executions at the highest rate in the country. It has carried out the most executions in the modern era, with nearly five times the number as the next highest state. However, that trend has changed in recent years, as both the number of new death sentences and executions has significantly declined. The Texas Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty’s (TCADP) 2025 Annual Report examines the dwindling use of capital punishment and the factors that impacted this…
Nov 03, 2025
New Documents Reveal Texas Has Spent More Than $775,000 on Lethal Injection Drugs Since October 2024 — But Many Other Details Remain Secret
Documents reviewed by NBC News in response to a public records request reveal that since October 2024 Texas has spent more than $775,000 to acquire pentobarbital, the drug used in the state’s lethal injection execution protocol. During the same time frame, the state has carried out 6 executions. The records show that in September 2024, the state obtained 20 one-gram vials of pentobarbital and an additional eight 2.5‑gram vials in February 2025. Per the state’s protocol, these amounts are enough…
Oct 15, 2025
Edward T. Blake, Pioneer of Using DNA to Prove Innocence, Dies at 80
Edward T. Blake, a forensic scientist who helped pioneer the use of DNA analysis in criminal cases and whose work helped exonerate more than 50 people, including those on death row, died in August 2025 at age 80 from pancreatic cancer. Dr. Blake was the first forensic scientist to use polymerase chain reaction testing, or PCR, on crime-scene DNA. The technique allowed Dr. Blake to extract usable genetic information from evidence samples that could not previously be tested because of old age…
Executions
Botched Executions
,Oct 08, 2025
Upcoming Executions Illustrate Persistent Themes and Concerns Around the Death Penalty
October 9, 2025 UPDATE: On October 9, 2025, just a week before his scheduled execution, the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals (CCA) granted Robert Roberson a stay of execution and remanded his case to the district court for further consideration of his request for relief based upon relief offered in a similar case, Ex parte Roark. Like Mr. Roberson’s case, Ex parte Roark, also involved a conviction based the now discredited “Shaken Baby Syndrome Hypothesis” (SBS) and the CCA granted relief to Mr.
Oct 07, 2025
New Evidence Revealed in “Dateline” Podcast Points to Judicial Misconduct in Robert Roberson’s Case Just Days Ahead of Execution
October 9, 2025 UPDATE: On October 9, 2025, just a week before his scheduled execution, the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals (CCA) granted Robert Roberson a stay of execution and remanded his case to the district court for further consideration of his request for relief based upon relief offered in a similar case, Ex parte Roark. Like Mr. Roberson’s case, Ex parte Roark, also involved a conviction based the now discredited “Shaken Baby Syndrome Hypothesis” (SBS) and the CCA granted relief to Mr.
Sep 30, 2025
DPI Podcast 12:01 The Death Penalty in Context: Katherine Judson of the Center for Integrity in Forensic Sciences Speaks on Flawed Forensics and Robert Roberson
In the September 2025 episode of 12:01: The Death Penalty in Context, DPI’s managing director Anne Holsinger interviews Shaken Baby Syndrome (SBS) expert Katherine Judson. Ms. Judson is Executive Director of the Center for Integrity in Forensic Sciences and former Shaken Baby Syndrome/Abusive Head Trauma Litigation Coordinator for the Wisconsin Innocence Project. In the episode, Ms. Judson provides the history behind Shaken Baby Syndrome, and why it is now known by experts as “junk science.”
Sep 30, 2025
Katherine Judson of the Center for Integrity in Forensic Sciences Speaks on Flawed Forensics and Robert Roberson
In the September 2025 episode of 12:01: The Death Penalty in Context, DPI’s managing director Anne Holsinger interviews Shaken Baby Syndrome (SBS) expert Katherine Judson. Ms. Judson is Executive Director of the Center for Integrity in Forensic Sciences and former Shaken Baby Syndrome/Abusive Head Trauma Litigation Coordinator for the Wisconsin Innocence Project. In the episode, Ms. Judson provides the history behind Shaken Baby Syndrome, and why it is now known by experts as “junk science.”
Sep 23, 2025
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 9th, 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. “Robert Roberson is innocent because the evidence developed in recent proceedings, but so far…
Conditions on Death Row
,Jul 22, 2025
Texas Pilot Program Allows for Less Restrictive Conditions for Some on Death Row for First Time in Decades
Recent reporting from the Houston Chronicle describes a pilot program begun in February of last year which has allowed a select group of prisoners on Texas’ death row the opportunity to experience loosened confinement conditions. About a dozen individuals on Texas’ death row are being allowed to mingle in a common room, share meals, and spend time outside of their cells without handcuffs or shackles. As the Chronicle reports, “instead of shouting to each other through cell vents and meal slots…
Upcoming Executions
,Jul 18, 2025
District Judge Sets “Unfortunate” New Execution Date for Texas Prisoner Robert Roberson, Despite Pending Petition in Support of His Innocence Claim
On July 16, 2025, Smith County District Judge Austin Reeve Jackson set an execution date of October 16, 2025 for Robert Roberson, a man with a strong innocence claim who has a habeas corpus petition pending at the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals (TCCA). Judge Jackson, after hearing arguments from both defense counsel for Mr. Roberson and attorneys from Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton’s office, ruled that there was no legal basis for not signing an execution order. “It doesn’t seem like…
Jun 23, 2025
In Unusual Move, Texas Attorney General Requests Execution Date for Robert Roberson Before a Court Has Heard New Evidence of His Actual Innocence
On June 16, 2025, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton filed a motion in the Anderson County District Court requesting a new execution date for Robert Roberson, despite the fact that a motion from defense counsel with new evidence in support of Mr. Roberson’s actual innocence remains pending. As the Dallas Morning Editorial Board notes, it is “unusual” that “[AG] Paxton’s office is involved” in requesting the execution date. AG Paxton has actively sought Mr. Roberson’s execution and has publicly…
Feb 26, 2025
Robert Roberson Once Again Asks Texas Court of Criminal Appeals to Consider New Evidence Supporting His Actual Innocence and Grant Him Relief
On February 19, 2025, in new filings, Robert Roberson returned to the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals (CCA) with a request for relief, presenting substantial new evidence that supports his claim of actual innocence. Mr. Roberson’s latest habeas application incorporates new expert opinions and references scientific advancements that have emerged since October 2024, when the CCA acknowledged in a similar case that the scientific foundation for “Shaken Baby” Syndrome (SBS) convictions lack…
Executions
Time on Death Row
,Jan 29, 2025
12:01: The Death Penalty in Context — The Death Penalty in 2024
In this month’s episode of 12:01: The Death Penalty in Context, Managing Director Anne Holsinger speaks with DPI Communications Associate Hayley Bedard, about The Death Penalty in 2024, which highlights trends and events related to the death penalty. 2024 marked the tenth consecutive year during which fewer than 30 people were executed (25) and fewer than 50 people were sentenced to death (26), while high profile cases of death-sentenced people attracted significant media attention and new…
Jan 24, 2025
State Spotlight: Texas Death Penalty Declining in Use — 2024 in Review
According to the Texas Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty’s annual Year in Review, Texas’ death row continued to shrink in 2024, reflecting prosecutors’ increasing reluctance to bring new capital cases and juries’ growing reluctance to sentence individuals to death. Texas juries imposed just six new death sentences in 2024, marking the tenth consecutive year of single-digit death sentences. Five of those six involved defendants of color, following another long-observed trend. In 1999…
Dec 20, 2024
Texas Attorney General’s Office Refuses to Cooperate with Committee Subpoena for Robert Roberson, Blocking His Testimony for the 2nd Time
On December 17, 2024, a bipartisan group of Texas legislators in the House Committee on Criminal Jurisprudence issued a new subpoena for death-sentenced Robert Roberson to testify in person on December 20 about the state’s junk science law, under which he failed to receive relief. Gretchen Sween, attorney for Mr. Roberson, said that he was “eager to testify and grateful for the chance to be heard.” But just two days after the issuance of the subpoena, and a day ahead of Mr. Roberson’s scheduled…
Nov 20, 2024
Texas Supreme Court Rules that a New Execution Date Can be Set for Robert Roberson
In a November 15, 2024, ruling, the Texas Supreme Court cleared the way for the state to reschedule the execution of Robert Roberson, despite compelling evidence of his innocence and widespread support for a new trial. Mr. Roberson was scheduled to be executed October 17, but on October 16 the Texas House Committee on Criminal Jurisprudence issued a subpoena for Mr. Roberson to testify on a day after his execution was to occur. A district court temporarily halted the execution so that Mr.
Oct 28, 2024
“Simply Untrue”: Lawmakers Refute Unprecedented Attack by Texas Attorney General in Robert Roberson’s Case
On October 23, 2024, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton released a press statement, the original autopsy report, and other case records in an effort to “set the record straight” and “correct falsehoods” that he accused state lawmakers of making about Robert Roberson (pictured). In this unprecedented attack, AG Paxton also characterized the defense efforts as “eleventh-hour, one-sided, extrajudicial stunts that attempt to obscure facts and rewrite his past.” Texas Governor Greg Abbott has also…
Oct 21, 2024
Testimony at Texas Legislature Does Not Include Robert Roberson But Witnesses Confirm Serious Concerns about the Possible Execution of an Innocent Man
The Texas House Committee on Criminal Jurisprudence heard testimony on Monday October 21, 2024 from novelist John Grisham, talk show host “Dr. Phil” McGraw, but not its expected star witness, Robert Roberson, whose subpoenaed testimony resulted in a dramatic last-minute stay of execution on October 17th from the Texas Supreme Court. Legislators said they could not reach an agreement with the Office of the Texas Attorney General to facilitate Mr. Roberson’s in-person testimony, and Committee…
Oct 16, 2024
Judge Denies Request to Vacate Oct. 17th Execution Date for Robert Roberson: He Now Awaits Clemency Decision from Gov. Abbott
Update: The Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles denied clemency for Robert Roberson on October 16, 2024. On October 15, 2024, the Anderson County Circuit Court held a hearing for Robert Roberson, who is set to be executed on October 17th. Mr. Roberson’s attorneys asked Presiding Judge Alfonso Charles to vacate his execution warrant because Judge Deborah Oakes Evans, who oversaw a post-conviction proceeding and issued the October 17 execution warrant, violated statutory procedure. Counsel for…
Oct 11, 2024
French and German Embassies Host a Discussion on Innocence and the Death Penalty
On October 11, 2024 the Embassies of France and Germany hosted a discussion on the question of innocence and the death penalty at the residence of the French Ambassador in Washington, D.C. Panelists included Herman Lindsey, a death row exoneree and Executive Director of Witness to Innocence; Vanessa Potkin, Director of Special Litigation at the Innocence Project; and Emmjolee Mendoza Waters, Director of the Death Penalty Abolition Program at Catholic Mobilizing Network. The approximately 75…
Sep 18, 2024
Broad Coalition Supports Robert Roberson’s Clemency Petition
On September 17, 2024, attorneys for Texas death row prisoner Robert Roberson filed a clemency petition accompanied by letters from hundreds of supporters, including eminent scientists and medical professionals, a bipartisan group of Texas legislators, and former lead Detective Brian Wharton, urging the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles and Governor Greg Abbott to reduce Mr. Roberson’s sentence. Mr. Roberson is currently scheduled to be executed on October 17, 2024. He was convicted and…
Issues
Sep 12, 2024
Texas Court of Criminal Appeals Dismisses New Evidence of Innocence and Denies Robert Roberson Habeas Relief
On September 11, 2024, the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals (TCCA) dismissed Robert Roberson’s request for habeas relief without reviewing the merits of any of his five claims, citing a failure to meet procedural requirements, despite the inclusion of new, previously unavailable medical and scientific evidence in the application. The TCCA also denied Mr. Roberson’s motion for a stay of execution, which remains scheduled for October 17, 2024.
Issues
Sep 09, 2024
Article of Interest: Author John Grisham Says Texas Plans to Execute Robert Roberson, An Innocent Man
Best-selling author of The Innocent Man and former criminal defense lawyer John Grisham “never, not once” believed that any of the hundreds of clients he represented were wrongfully convicted. In a September 5, 2024, op-ed, Mr. Grisham writes that he just assumed the criminal justice system always got it right. Now, writing for the second time about Robert Roberson’s case, Mr. Grisham acknowledges that was “a wrong assumption.” He argues that “Robert Roberson is innocent because the evidence…
Issues
Victims' Families
,Aug 12, 2024
New York Times Video Op-eds Highlight Systemic Flaws in the Capital Punishment System, Including Mistakes from Junk Science and Lack of Closure for Victims’ Families
In the second and third videos of The New York Times’ three-part series, “The Fallibility of Justice,” Brett Malone, whose mother’s killer remains on Louisiana death row, and Texas death-sentenced prisoner Charles Don Flores provide their perspectives on capital punishment. The New York Times has consistently called for abolition of the death penalty, describing it as “full of bias and error, morally abhorrent, [and] futile in deterring crime.” Mr. Malone describes his personal journey from…
Issues
Aug 05, 2024
New Report Reveals Texas Junk Science Statute Fails to Adequately Provide Relief for Innocent Prisoners, Including Robert Roberson
A July 2024 report from the Texas Defender Service (TDS), An Unfulfilled Promise: Assessing the Efficacy of 11.073, the first-ever comprehensive review of Texas’ junk science writ, revealed that the “law systematically fails to provide relief to innocent people convicted based on false forensic evidence.” In 2013, the Texas Legislature passed a first-of-its-kind law, Texas Code of Criminal Procedure Article 11.073, creating a procedural pathway for convicted individuals to seek new trials if…
Issues
Jul 31, 2024
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…
Issues
Jul 08, 2024
Significant Developments in Cases of Innocent Prisoners on Death Row
On Wednesday, July 3rd, the 200th death row exoneration was announced. But an unknown number of prisoners with compelling innocence claims remain on death row, unable to secure relief either because they lack access to competent legal representation for their appeals, are barred from accessing the courts because of procedural legal barriers, or due to the incalcitrance of elected officials. For some of these prisoners, execution dates have been set. Significant developments have occurred…
Issues
Jul 03, 2024
The 200th Exoneration Underscores Critical Flaws in the U.S. Criminal Legal System; Other Innocent Prisoners Remain on Death Row
Since the U.S. Supreme Court’s landmark ruling in Furman v. Georgia (1972), 200 death-sentenced men and women across 30 states have been exonerated. Analysis from the Death Penalty Information Center reveals these individuals have collectively spent 2,621 years in harsh prison conditions for crimes they did not commit. On average, death row exonerees spent 13 years under the sentence of death before their exonerations, with some individuals spending more than 40 years fighting to prove their…
Issues
Jun 20, 2024
Anderson County, Texas District Attorney Requests Execution for Robert Roberson, Despite a Conviction Obtained with Debunked Forensic Science
On June 17, 2024, Anderson County District Attorney Allyson Mitchell filed a motion to set an execution date for Texas death row prisoner Robert Roberson, despite his steadfast maintenance of innocence in the death of his two-year-old daughter. Mr. Roberson has spent more than 20 years on death row for a crime that, according to the Innocence Project, “never occurred and a conviction based on the outdated and now debunked shaken baby hypothesis.” New evidence indicates that Mr. Roberson’s…
Research
New Voices
,May 24, 2024
Article of Interest: Retired Supervising Detective Says There Was No Crime in Robert Roberson’s Case
In a May 23, 2024 op-ed published in The Dallas Morning News, Brian Wharton, the retired supervising detective in Robert Roberson’s case, urged Anderson County District Attorney Allyson Mitchell to reexamine the case and the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals to reexamine a pending motion on Mr. Roberson’s innocence claims, which have previously been denied. “It would be a terrible legacy for all of us to be associated with executing an innocent man based on a rush to judgment and bad science,”…
Issues
Oct 02, 2023
Supreme Court Denies Certiorari to Two Death-Sentenced Men with Credible Innocence Claims
On October 2, the first day of its new term, the Supreme Court denied review in two high-profile death penalty cases: Toforest Johnson and Robert Roberson. Both men have long maintained their innocence and have garnered broad bipartisan support for their innocence claims. In Alabama, Mr. Johnson’s conviction was largely based on an “earwitness” who received a monetary award after her testimony, a fact that was not revealed until seventeen years later. Mr. Johnson was convicted of the 1995…
Issues
Sep 11, 2023
John Grisham on Robert Roberson: “Texas may execute an innocent man”
In an op-ed for the Wall Street Journal, novelist John Grisham recounts the flawed science that led to the conviction of Robert Roberson (pictured, with his daughter Nikki) and the inadequate legal process that has maintained that conviction. Mr. Roberson was convicted and sentenced to death for the 2002 death of his 2‑year-old daughter Nikki. His conviction relied on a theory of “shaken baby syndrome” that has since been discredited. After a hearing ordered by the Texas Court of Criminal…
Issues
Jun 15, 2023
Scientists, Physicians, Retired Federal Judges, and Innocence Groups File Amicus Briefs in Support of Robert Roberson, Texas Man Convicted and Sentenced to Death in “Shaken Baby Syndrome” Case
On June 15, 2023, five amicus briefs were filed with the United States Supreme Court in support of Robert Roberson (pictured with his daughter, Nikki), a Texas death-sentenced prisoner who has long claimed to be innocent of causing the death of his daughter. Mr. Roberson filed his petition with the Supreme Court on May 11th after the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals (CCA) denied his request for a new trial despite the presentation of new scientific evidence that soundly discredited the “shaken…
Issues
May 18, 2023
Texas Prisoner Seeks Supreme Court Review of Conviction Based on Debunked Scientific Evidence
On May 11, attorneys for Robert Roberson, a death-sentenced prisoner in Texas, filed a petition for certiorari to the Supreme Court asking it to reverse the decision of the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals (TCCA). Mr. Roberson’s conviction for the murder of his daughter Nikki was based on the so-called “Shaken Baby Syndrome” which has now been debunked by new scientific and medical evidence. The TCCA disregarded this and other evidence that showed his daughter’s death was attributable to natural…
Issues
Apr 18, 2022
Forensics Experts and Shaken-Baby Exonerees File Briefs Supporting Texas Death-Row Prisoner Robert Roberson’s Innocence Claim
Forensics experts and three exonerees wrongfully convicted of murder based upon junk-science diagnoses of Shaken Baby Syndrome are urging the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals (TCCA) to overturn the conviction of death-row prisoner Robert Roberson (pictured with his daughter, Nikki). In separate friend-of-the-court briefs filed on April 8, 2022, the two groups argue that Shaken Baby Syndrome is an invalid medical diagnosis that should never be used as the basis of a murder conviction and that…
Issues
Victims' Families
,Executions Overview
,Apr 10, 2017
Texas Court Stays Execution of Paul Storey Based on False Argument About Wishes of Victim’s Family
The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals has issued an order staying the scheduled April 12 execution of Paul Storey. The unpublished April 7 order sends Storey’s case back to the trial court to consider whether the prosecution knowingly presented false evidence about the victim’s family’s views on the death penalty. Storey had been scheduled to be executed on April 12. His lawyers argued that “the State denied him his right to due process because it argued “evidence it knew to be false” when…
Executions
Executions Overview
,Oct 13, 2016
Texas Executions Drop to Lowest Level in 20 Years
Texas is poised to have the fewest number of executions in 20 years. As of October, the state has executed seven prisoners in 2016, with just one more execution scheduled this calendar year. The total would mark the fewest executions in the state in any year since 1996. In that year, three people were executed, as legal challenges to a new state law billed as speeding up appeals put most executions on hold. Fifteen execution dates for 11 people have been stayed or halted in Texas this year.
Issues
Jun 17, 2016
Texas Court Stays Execution of Man Convicted by Now Debunked “Shaken Baby” Testimony
The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals has granted a stay of execution to Robert Roberson (pictured), who had been scheduled to be executed on June 21 for the 2003 death of his two-and-a-half-year-old daughter, Nikki Curtis. The court’s June 16 stay order halts Roberson’s execution under a recent Texas law permitting court challenges based on new scientific evidence of innocence. Prosecution experts had testified at Roberson’s trial that his daughter died of Shaken Baby Syndrome, asserting that…