Robert Roberson likely would have died this past fall if not for the actions of a few Republican and Democratic lawmakers. On October 16, a day before the now 58-year-old death row inmate was set to be executed, the legislators subpoenaed him to travel to Austin from the Allan B. Polunsky Unit, in Livingston. In a state that has executed 591 felons since 1982 (more than four times as many as any other state), the move was a legal Hail Mary and a rare instance of bipartisanship. And it has worked—for now.
Roberson had been charged in the 2002 death of his two-year-old daughter, Nikki, in Palestine, Texas, after taking the girl, who had stopped breathing, to the ER. The child had been seriously ill, and her father said she had fallen, but doctors believed they saw signs of shaken baby syndrome. That diagnosis was a key factor in the investigation and prosecution of Roberson, who was found guilty of capital murder and sentenced to death.
In the more than two decades since, Roberson’s lawyers have filed numerous appeals, arguing, in part, that the conviction should be thrown out because the medical community’s understanding of SBS has changed, calling for a more nuanced review of symptoms. On the eve of his first execution date, in 2016, Roberson’s lawyers requested a new trial, pointing to a recent law that allowed convictions based on outdated “junk science” to be overturned. The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals ordered a trial judge to consider the matter. At a 2021 hearing, experts for the defense testified about the deficiencies of the SBS theory and stated that Nikki likely died of a combination of pneumonia and toxic levels of medications she’d been prescribed. Still, the judge ruled against Roberson, and the decision was ratified by the higher court.
Roberson, who would have been the first person in the country put to death for a conviction based, in part, on an SBS diagnosis, lost another appeal as his execution date neared. More than eighty members of the House signed a letter urging clemency, but the Board of Pardons and Paroles refused his request, and Governor Greg Abbott declined a thirty-day reprieve.
A week after the CCA ordered a new trial in another SBS case, in Dallas County, on October 9, the five Republicans and four Democrats on the House Committee on Criminal Jurisprudence held a hearing to question why the Roberson case wasn’t covered by the junk-science law. Led by Chair Joe Moody, a Democrat from El Paso, and member Jeff Leach, a Republican from Plano, the committee issued its subpoena.
Hours before Roberson was set to die, a Travis County judge granted a motion filed by Moody and Leach for a temporary restraining order to prevent his execution. After Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton asked the CCA to throw out the order, claiming that the county court had no jurisdiction, the judges agreed. Two hours later, the state Supreme Court halted the execution by granting an emergency motion filed by the representatives.
With Roberson temporarily out of harm’s way, the committee met again. Though the inmate wasn’t allowed to testify, others did. “There’s no such thing as shaken baby syndrome,” the television personality Dr. Phil told
the committee. Terre Compton, one of the original jurors, testified that she no longer thought Roberson was guilty.
Four weeks later, the state Supreme Court said lawmakers could subpoena Roberson, but added that such a move could never again delay an execution. At press time, a new execution date hadn’t been set, and Moody and Leach still planned to get Roberson’s testimony, though it’s unclear when that could happen. In a year when Republicans and Democrats seemed dead set against bipartisanship, the case brought some together to try and save a life.
This article originally appeared in the January 2025 issue of Texas Monthly with the headline “Republicans and Democrats Collaborate in Trying to Save a Life.” Subscribe today.
