Palestine man, facing death penalty, files for clemency

PALESTINE – According to our news partner KETK, a group of advocates for a Palestine man on death row filed a petition on Tuesday to stop his execution just 30 days before he is expected to be put to death. They argue the science used to sentence him is questionable. It’s been 21 years since Robert Roberson was convicted of murdering his two-year-old daughter Nikki. Experts who have studied or are involved with this case say she died of other causes. Nikki dealt with medical issues long before her death, including breathing apnea spells that started before the age of one.

“The death of Robert’s daughter Nikki was not a crime. It was a tragedy,” said one of Roberson’s attorneys, Gretchen Sween.

“My testimony helped convict him of murder and send him to death row, but for all the years since, I have believed that justice was not done,” one of the lead investigators on this case, Brian Wharton, said.

One night, Roberson claimed he found that Nikki had fallen out of her bed in their Palestine home and was later unconscious with blue lips.

He took her to the hospital, where doctors found she was suffering from head trauma. Their consensus, which they testified later in court, was that she suffered from shaken baby syndrome.

“In the two decades that have passed since Mr. Roberson’s trial, evidence-based scientists roundly debunk the version of the shaken baby hypothesis that was put before his jury,” Kate Judson, the executive director of the Center for Integrity in Forensic Scientists, said.

“What we now know, thanks to highly qualified medical experts, is that Nikki had severe pneumonia that was infecting her lungs, likely for days or weeks before her collapse,” Sween explained.

They also claim medications given by her doctor and the fall she took could have contributed. Advocates say Roberson was also prejudged based on his reactions, not considering he is autistic.

“And I followed their lead. I simply accepted their explanation of what happened to Nikki,” said Wharton.

Even the lead investigator on this case who helped put Roberson in prison says he was wrong, and he’s going to do everything he can to fix his mistake.

“I will be forever haunted by my participation in his arrest and prosecution. He is an innocent man,” Wharton added.

The director of Texas Conservatives Concerned about the Death Penalty, Nan Tolson, says 34 scientists and doctors, 84 Texas legislators, 70 attorneys, and swarms of others are now on board to help Roberson.

“These diverse voices are united in a widespread growing consensus that Texas is scheduled to execute an innocent person on October 17th,” Tolson said.

Time is running out and she said that this filing is one of the only avenues of relief left open for Roberson.

Roberson’s execution was halted by the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals in 2016.

That decision was overturned in 2023 and upheld in court earlier this year.

If his death is not prevented, Roberson will be the first person in the U.S. executed based on the shaken baby hypothesis.

His execution date is currently set for October 17th.