INSIDER
The appeal includes new testimony from experts who say Roberson’s daughter died of natural causes, and cites the court’s exoneration of a man in another shaken baby syndrome case out of Dallas County.
Trump’s new directive that aims to increase death sentences clashes with some Texas lawmakers’ efforts to add guardrails to capital punishment.
Texas continues to lead other states on capital punishment. But the decline in new death sentences and executions reached a record low.
Attorney General Ken Paxton sought to delay legal proceedings until Jan. 13 — the day before the committee disbands — even as lawmakers vowed to continue fighting to hear from Roberson.
The motion escalates a tense standoff between Paxton and a bipartisan Texas House committee, which had subpoenaed Roberson to testify at the Capitol on Friday.
The number of executions in the U.S. remained near historic lows in 2024 and was mostly carried out in a small group of states.
The new subpoena comes after lawmakers say Ken Paxton’s office stalled a previous effort to get Roberson’s legislative testimony about his conviction in “shaken baby” case.
Senior District Judge Deborah Oakes Evans recused herself after a challenge to her impartiality over longtime relationships with case prosecutors and judges.
Lawmakers on the Texas House Committee on Criminal Jurisprudence still want to hear from death row inmate, Robert Roberson. The committee’s chair plans to issue another subpoena for Roberson’s testimony.
Roberson was convicted of killing his 2-year-old daughter in a “shaken baby” case that many say led to an innocent man’s death sentence.
As a legal chess match continues over a death row inmate’s life, the Texas Supreme Court has weighed in, saying a legislative committee that delayed Robert Roberson’s execution date did not have the power to stop a scheduled sentence.
The Texas Supreme Court ruled that a legislative subpoena cannot be used to stop an execution, putting a decisive end to a legal battle that halted the scheduled execution of Robert Roberson last month.
The state’s highest civil court ruled that legislators can’t use subpoenas to block death row inmates’ executions, but suggested there’s still time for Roberson to testify before a Texas House panel.
This is the latest salvo in a legal battle between committee members and the Texas Attorney General and Governor’s offices.
Robert Roberson was set to be the first person in the U.S. to be executed on a “shaken baby syndrome” diagnosis after getting convicted for killing his 2-year-old daughter. He maintained his innocence and in October 2024, his sentence was put on a temporary pause.
Robert Roberson may have had his execution date postponed, but time is running out for whether he will get to testify.
As tensions continue amid a delayed execution for death row inmate, Robert Roberson, new allegations from a Texas lawmaker suggest his attorney overstepped by showing up to a jury foreman’s home.
Even before the Texas man’s death sentence became a political lightning rod, law enforcement and medical experts had differing opinions on the evidence that convicted him.
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton is calling for the resignation of State Representative Jeff Leach after his admission to sending text messages to a Texas Court of Criminal Appeals judge last week saying that death row inmate Robert Roberson deserved a new trial.
The AG also said he’d make a criminal referral against the lawmaker, who apologized for texting a Court of Criminal Appeals judge about a new trial for the death row inmate.
Members of a Texas House committee say in a Texas Supreme Court filing that Paxton’s office is blocking the death row inmate from complying with a legislative subpoena.
Leach, one of the driving forces behind the effort to stop Roberson’s execution, later apologized to the judge, who told the lawmaker there were still pending matters before the court.
The family of Nikki Curtis, a two-year-old murder victim, is urging Texas lawmakers to consider the full extent of evidence against Robert Roberson, who was convicted of her 2002 murder.
After the attorney general insisted on the death row inmate’s guilt in a graphic press release, four lawmakers issued a point-by-point rebuttal.
The rebuttal focuses on what the defense team calls 12 misrepresentations by Paxton in Roberson’s case.
Texas’ junk science statute has remained hamstrung for the last decade. So too have other criminal justice reforms, despite efforts from the Texas House.
After the execution of death row inmate Robert Roberson was delayed, the Office of the Texas Attorney General has released the autopsy report for Roberson’s daughter, Nikki Curtis, who he was convicted of killing and sentenced to die for.
Texas Governor Greg Abbott says the House Committee on Criminal Jurisprudence “stepped out of line” by subpoenaing death row inmate Robert Roberson and delaying his execution.
Texas death row inmate Robert Roberson will be praying for another miracle as he prepares to testify before lawmakers after his life was temporarily spared from his scheduled execution last week.
The death row inmate was expected to testify before a Texas House committee, but those plans were scrapped amid a dispute over whether he should appear in person or virtually.
A man whose execution was halted will testify at a legislative hearing about a “junk science” law in Texas that many say should have saved him long ago.
It’s rare for governors to step in to halt executions. In the case of Robert Roberson, it ended up being state lawmakers who took extraordinary steps.
Three of the five judges who allowed Robert Roberson’s execution to proceed will be leaving the court after Paxton-backed primary challenges.
The effort to spare Roberson sparked a conflict between the executive and legislative branches that must be resolved. When it is, the death row inmate will likely be back on the path to execution.
Robert Roberson, who had been set to be the first person in the U.S. to be put to death for a murder conviction tied to a diagnosis of shaken baby syndrome, had his execution delayed after a dramatic few hours of legal wrangling among three different Texas courts.
A Texas man who could be the first person in the U.S. executed for a murder conviction tied to the diagnosis of shaken baby syndrome is facing a lethal injection.
The American Academy of Pediatrics embraces the diagnosis, but courts have thrown out some cases, calling it “junk science.”
With Roberson’s options dwindling, a House panel used its bully pulpit to prove his case and excoriate the failures of the state’s junk science law.
The Texas Supreme Court has halted the scheduled execution of a man who would have become the first person in the U.S. put to death for a murder conviction tied to a diagnosis of shaken baby syndrome.
The state’s highest civil court said it wants a lower court to resolve a separation-of-powers issue raised by a group of Texas lawmakers who subpoenaed the death row inmate the night before he was set to be put to death.
The Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles has denied a request for clemency for a man who this week could be the first person in the U.S. executed for a murder conviction tied to the diagnosis of shaken baby syndrome.
A Texas man this week could become the first person executed in the U.S. under a murder conviction tied to the diagnosis of shaken baby syndrome.
Texas rarely grants clemency for death row inmates, but that's not stopping a group of bipartisan lawmakers from showing their support for a man scheduled to be executed in October.
Lawmakers cite new scientific evidence that they say proves Robert Roberson, who is set for execution on Oct. 17, did not kill his daughter.
Texas’ 2013 law that allows for new trials in cases with flawed scientific evidence was pioneering. But the state’s highest criminal court has rejected most of those challenges.
Lawyers for Robert Roberson say the science used to sentence him to death is questionable and that prior health issues could explain the death of his 2-year-old daughter in 2002.
Robert Roberson was sentenced to death for killing his 2-year-old daughter. Experts have since backtracked on the science used in part to win his conviction.
