AUSTIN (WBAP/KLIF News ) – Death row inmate Robert Roberson is slated to virtually testify in front of a Texas House committee on Monday at noon.
The 57-year-old was condemned after being convicted of killing his two-year-old daughter Nikki Curtis in Palestine in 2002 in a case tied to shaken baby syndrome.
A growing number of forensic and medical officials argue that recent science has dismantled other shaken baby syndrome cases.
In 2013, Texas enacted the junk science law which allows a person convicted of a crime to seek an appeal if the evidence used against them is no longer credible. The bipartisan committee wants to know why that law was never applied in this case.
Roberson was set to be executed last week, but the Texas House of Representatives Criminal Jurisprudence Committee who believes he may be innocent issued a subpoena for him to testify.
Legal expert Jeremy Rosenthal said the order saved temporarily saved Roberson’s life.
“This was a very clever move for them to subpoena him. I don’t know that I’ve ever seen it before and candidly I didn’t expect it to work. They were able to get some courts to say ‘look there’s a separation of powers issue’,” he said.
The Texas Supreme Court denied a request by Attorney General Ken Paxton to have the subpoena thrown out. Paxton argues the legislature is overstepping.
Roberson would be the first person in the United States executed for a murder conviction tied to shaken baby syndrome.
The case is shedding light on the number of innocent people convicted of Crimes in Texas. Attorney Ben Michael said unfortunately, the phenomena is not uncommon.
“Anywhere from 3,000 to 9,000 individuals are currently incarcerated just here in Texas prisons alone,” he said.
Texas has exonerated at least 94 people since 2009, paying almost $100 million in lump-sum payments and $6 million a year in monthly annuity payments to the exonerees.
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