Entries tagged with “Shaken Baby Syndrome”

Innocence

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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…

Innocence

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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…

Clemency

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Innocence

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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…

Policy Issues

Innocence

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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…

Policy Issues

Innocence

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Victims' Families

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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.”…

Policy Issues

Innocence

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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…

Policy Issues

Innocence

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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…

Policy Issues

Innocence

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Official Misconduct

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United States Supreme Court

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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…

Policy Issues

Innocence

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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…

Policy Issues

Innocence

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United States Supreme Court

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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…

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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Crimes Punishable by Death

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Sep 24, 2018

Questionable Ruling Grants Jeffrey Havard New Sentencing but Not New Trial in Controversial ​“Shaken Baby” Case

Sixteen years after a noto­ri­ous and now-dis­cred­it­ed foren­sic wit­ness told a Mississippi jury that Jeffrey Havard had sex­u­al­ly abused and shak­en his girl­friend’s six-month-old daugh­ter to death, Havard’s death sen­tence — but not his con­vic­tion — has been over­turned. On September 14, 2018, Adams County Circuit Judge Forrest Johnson ruled that state pathol­o­gist Steven Hayne’s recan­ta­tion of his diag­no­sis that infant Chloe Britt had been a vic­tim of Shaken Baby…