Roberson will not seek leniency before the execution of October
:focal(0x0:3000x2000)/static.texastribune.org/media/files/63d63e2566f2beaf31ad039c6c98e511/0716%20Robert%20Roberson%20Hearing%20JA%2003.jpg?w=780&resize=780,470&ssl=1)
Register for The Brief, the daily newsletter of Texas Tribune which keeps readers aware of the most essential news in Texas.
The detainee of the Robert Roberson, the contents of the Texas corridor, will not petition the leniency before his executed execution in three weeks and will rather focus on obtaining a new trial in his conviction for murder of capital, his lawyer said on Wednesday.
Roberson was found guilty in 2003 for the death of her 2 -year -old daughter, Nikki, who was diagnosed with shaken baby syndrome. Roberson maintained his innocence during the two decades he passed in the death corridor, arguing that scientific evidence has developed since his disabled conviction the diagnosis of Nikki and shows that she died of a chronic illness – and not to be so violently shaken that she died, as the prosecutors claimed during the trial of dress.
Roberson, 58, is expected to be executed on October 16. His deadline for submitting a mercy request to the Texas Board of Pardons and Words is Thursday 21 days before his date of execution.
Under the law of Texas, the majority of the Texas Board of Pardons and words must recommend the leniency before the governor can grant it. Clemence in a capital case could signify a switching from the sentence to life prison and a stay of the execution, but would not affect the conviction.
The request for Clémence de Roberson last year was refused by the board of directors the day before its execution. Its execution was then delayed by the Supreme Court of Texas after a bipartite group of state legislators undertook an extraordinary campaign to buy it more time – triggering a bitter political battle between the members of the Texas Chamber, which pressure for a new trial, and the prosecutor General Ken Paxton, whose office now represents the state in the calls of Roberson.
In a statement, Gretchen Sween, the lawyer for Dress, said that she had advised Roberson to no longer ask for leniency because she would offer an “extremely inadequate remedy”.
“A condemnation switching is not justice for an innocent man who was wrongly sentenced for a crime that has never taken place,” she said. “Repair for Mr. Roberson must come from courts.”
Sween added that the council rejected the request for Clémence de Roberson last year “without audience and without any explanation”, which makes “impossible to discern what type of information could be convincing”.
“It is difficult to imagine a more solid demand than that submitted to Mr. Roberson last year,” she said, adding that the leniency would not “allow the long-delay evaluation for objective medical evidence” in the case of dressrson and would only “divert the precious resources from the fundamental mission: obtaining a new test for Robert for the end”.
Roberson filed a new call in August, citing new evidence brought to his legal team in June and demanding the judiciary of the county of Anderson – where he was condemned – acted in an unconstitutional way several times in his case.
His petition claims that Nikki has been withdrawn from life towards his grandparents – although Roberson is his only curator – only after representatives of the magistracy of Anderson’s county have falsely told the hospital staff that the couple was Nikki’s legal conservatives. Roberson was arrested for capital murder after the death of Nikki.
The file also suggests that the judge of the district court of the time, Jerry Calhoon, was incorrectly involved in the case and signed an order to provide the Legal Advisor to Roberson despite his son, Mark Calhoon, being a prosecutor in the trial of Roberson. The former judge did not chair the trial.
Roberson also has an appeal in suspense at the Criminal Court of Appeal, the highest Criminal Tribunal in Texas, with additional expert opinions concluding that the diagnosis of Nikki shaken was not linked and that the autopsy judging his death of a homicide was defective. This appeal also highlights the court’s decision in October 2024 to overthrow the conviction with a baby shaken by a man from Dallas.
In addition, Sween noted that Governor Greg Abbott has the power to issue a unique 30 -day stay.
In response to the previous calls from Dress, the state argued that the evidence that supports its conviction is still. The prosecutors also sought to minimize the centrality of the diagnosis of a baby shaken from Nikki in his test.
If Texas goes through the execution of Roberson, it will become the first person in the United States put to death on the basis of a diagnosis of shaken baby syndrome.
“Mr. Roberson is actually innocent,” said Sween. “If he is executed, despite the overwhelming evidence of his innocence, Texas will commit a miscarriage of extreme justice.”
Three Tribfest speakers have confirmed! You don’t want to missDeb HaalandFormer US Interior Secretary and Democratic candidate in 2026 for the governor of New Mexico; The state senator Joan HuffmanR-Houston and 2026 Republican candidate for the Attorney General of Texas; And Jake TapperThe anchor of “The Lead” and “State of the Union” of CNN at the 15th annual Tipas Tribune festival, from November 13 to 15 in downtown Austin. Get your tickets today!
Tribfest 2025 is presented by JPMorGanchase.