Robert Roberson’s Upcoming Execution and the Arguments for His Innocence

Executions Governors

Robert Roberson is scheduled to be executed by the State of Texas on Thursday, Oct. 17, amidst calls for a stay of execution from some lawmakers and advocates who argue that he is innocent.

On Jan. 31, 2002, Roberson brought his 2-year-old daughter, Nikki Curtis, to a hospital in Palestine, Texas. He stated that she was ill with a high fever and had suffered a fall from bed. He reported that at the hospital, she was “not breathing and had a blue color to her skin.” She was subsequently transported to a hospital in Dallas via helicopter, where she was pronounced dead. Hospital staff raised suspicions of abuse, based on Nikki’s injuries. It was determined that her injuries were consistent with shaken baby syndrome—a form of child abuse in which a baby’s brain is violently shaken, causing their brain to bounce against their skull.

The hospital staff argued that Roberson, despite his daughter’s condition, lacked emotion. The following day, Feb. 1, 2002, Roberson, now 57, was charged with capital murder.

Though shaken baby syndrome has been widely accepted as a valid diagnosis by many pediatricians, the medical community acknowledged in 2020 that it has been “misinterpreted” by some in the legal and medical circles. Roberson’s lawyers contend that the science behind shaken baby syndrome and Roberson’s conviction is inaccurate. 

“It wasn’t a crime committed,” Roberson, 57, said about a week before his scheduled execution. “I was falsely, wrongly convicted of a crime—they said it was a crime, but it wasn’t no crime and stuff because I had a sick little girl, you know?”

Roberson has spent over 20 years on death row. If executed, his attorneys claim it would make him the first person in the United States executed on a shaken baby syndrome-based conviction.

On Oct. 11, Roberson filed an appeal with the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals—an appeal that cited recent developments in scrutiny over shaken baby syndrome. In a non-capital case in Dallas County, the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals overturned the conviction of a man on Oct. 9 in a case that also involved a prosecution under the theory of shaken baby syndrome. 

Medical records indicate that Nikki suffered from multiple health problems requiring frequent doctor visits throughout her short life. A doctor testified that, in the days before her death, Nikki had an upper respiratory infection.

Roberson’s case has garnered more widespread attention since his execution date was set back in  July. In his corner stands Brian Wharton, a former assistant police chief in Palestine, Texas, who played a role in putting Roberson in prison. Now a minister, Wharton expresses regret over his part in the conviction. 

In a New York Times opinion piece, Wharton described going to visit Roberson in prison, marking the first time they had seen each other in more than 20 years. 

“He’s never been far from my mind. Why? Because I helped put him here and he didn’t deserve it,” Wharton said.

Wharton went on to say that Nikki was a “very sick child,” and that he believes there could have been multiple other reasons why she died in 2002.

“No other possibilities for her injuries were considered,” he said. “I regret deeply that we followed the easiest path.”

The 11th-hour appeals for Roberson come less than a month after the tireless efforts from criminal justice reform groups and activists to appeal the execution of death row inmate Kevin Johnson in Missouri amid serious concerns that he may be innocent. Williams was executed on Tuesday, Sept. 24, at 55 years old after the U.S. Supreme Court denied his final appeal. In the aftermath of his death, there has been widespread condemnation, especially since the execution was not supported by the prosecution nor the victim’s family.

Now, similar groups including The Innocence Project— a nonprofit fighting against wrongful convictions—are appealing to the public to help stall Roberson’s execution by having them call Texas Gov. Greg Abbott. The Innocence Project argues that “symptoms” of Roberson’s autism—which at the time of his daughter’s death was undiagnosed—“were used against him.”

In 2018, Abbott granted clemency to Thomas Bartlett Whitaker, following a unanimous decision by the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles. Whitaker now serves a sentence of life in prison without parole. In May, Abbott also denied clemency to a veteran who killed a police brutality protester in 2020.

A bipartisan group of Texas state legislators in the House are still pushing for Roberson’s execution to be halted. In September, 86 members of the Texas House signed a letter pressing the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles to recommend clemency. They previously called for a stay of execution before it was set.

“We’re barreling towards an execution when a strong bipartisan majority of #txlege reps aren’t even sure a crime occurred—and are very sure due process didn’t,” Rep. Joe Moody of El Paso (formerly Twitter) on Oct. 11. “We have to do all we can to pump the brakes before this stains Texas justice for generations.”