A judge on Thursday granted a Texas House committee’s request for a temporary restraining order to delay the killing of Robert Roberson hours before his scheduled execution.
Roberson was set to become the first person in the United States to be executed for a murder conviction tied to a diagnosis of shaken baby syndrome. The delay will allow Roberson to testify next week at a hearing about his case.
Roberson, 57, has long maintained his innocence in the death of his two-year-old daughter, Nikki Curtis, in the East Texas city of Palestine. Medical experts say Curtis died from shaken baby syndrome, also known as abusive head trauma. Shaken baby syndrome occurs when a child experiences serious brain injury from shaking or another violent impact.
Texas inmate Robert Roberson is seen at a prison in Livingston, Texas, September 27, 2024. A judge on Thursday delayed Roberson’s scheduled execution.
Criminal Justice Reform Caucus via AP
Thursday’s order by state District Judge Jessica Mangrum is expected to be appealed by the Texas Attorney General’s Office. Mangrum’s decision came soon after the U.S. Supreme Court declined to intervene in the execution.
On Wednesday, the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles voted not to recommend that Roberson’s death sentence be commuted to life in prison or that his execution be delayed.
The parole board made their decision after an East Texas judge denied requests by Roberson’s attorneys on Tuesday to stop his execution by vacating the execution warrant and rescuing the judge who issued the warrant.
His attorneys and a bipartisan group of Texas lawmakers, medical experts and others have urged Texas Governor Greg Abbott to stop Roberson’s execution.
Those supporting Roberson claim that doctors misdiagnosed Curtis’ injuries as being related to shaken baby syndrome and that new evidence shows that she died from complications related to severe pneumonia rather than abuse.
Prosecutors have argued that the new evidence does not disprove the fact that Curtis died from injuries inflicted by her father. The Anderson County District Attorney’s Office, which prosecuted Roberson, also has said in court documents that a judge who held a hearing on the new evidence in 2022 rejected claims that pneumonia and other diseases led to Curtis’ death.
Abbott is permitted to grant a one-time 30-day reprieve without a board recommendation, and Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor in a Thursday statement urged Abbott to grant Roberson the delay.
However, in almost a decade of being governor, Abbott has only stopped one imminent execution in 2018 for convicted murderer Thomas Whitaker.
Update 10/17/24 7:28 p.m. ET: This story has been updated to include more information.
