Entries tagged with “Sabrina Butler”

Policy Issues

Innocence

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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…

Policy Issues

Innocence

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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…

Policy Issues

Innocence

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Jan 06, 2021

Witness to Innocence Releases #ImLivingProof Video Series

Witness to Innocence, the nation­al orga­ni­za­tion of U.S. death-row exonerees, has released a series of short videos under the tag “#ImLivingProof,” fea­tur­ing the sto­ries of men and women who had been wrong­ful­ly con­vict­ed and sen­tenced to death. The series, pro­duced by film­mak­er Martin Schoeller with fund­ing from the Art for Justice Fund, attempts to per­son­al­ize the dan­gers of the death penal­ty by show­ing the pub­lic liv­ing proof that inno­cent peo­ple are sen­tenced to…

Policy Issues

Innocence

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Women

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Jul 31, 2019

Federal Appeals Court Overturns Mother’s Conviction in Texas Child Murder Case That May Have Been an Accidental Death

Citing tri­al court inter­fer­ence in her right to present a defense, a fed­er­al appeals court has over­turned the con­vic­tion of a Texas moth­er who was sen­tenced to death on charges that she had mur­dered her two-year-old daugh­ter. In an unpub­lished, unsigned opin­ion issued on July 29, 2019, a unan­i­mous three-judge pan­el of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit said that tri­al court rul­ings that blocked Melissa Elizabeth Lucio (pic­tured) from call­ing an expert wit­ness to…