Texas judge grants injunction ahead of man's execution in 'shaken baby syndrome' case
A Texas judge granted a temporary injunction delaying the execution of a death row inmate convicted in the 2002 killing of his 2-year-old daughter.
Robert Roberson, 57, was scheduled to be executed Thursday evening, but hours before he was to receive a lethal injection, Travis County Judge Jessica Mangrum ruled that he would be allowed to testify in his case next week.
Mangrum agreed and granted a temporary restraining order to prevent the execution just 90 minutes before Roberson's scheduled execution.
The decision came after a bipartisan group of Texas lawmakers issued a subpoena for Roberson on Wednesday night.
"We urge Governor Greg Abbott to grant a reprieve of 30 days to allow litigation to continue and have a court hear the overwhelming new medical and scientific evidence that shows Robert Roberson’s chronically ill, two-year-old daughter, Nikki, died of natural and accidental causes, not abuse," said Gretchen Sween, one of Roberson’s attorneys, in a statement to Fox News Digital.
"A reprieve will also give Texas legislators time to investigate why Texas’s vaunted ‘changed science’ habeas law, which allows prisoners to challenge convictions based on science that turns out to be disproven or wrong, is not being applied as intended in the courts."
Roberson was convicted of killing his 2-year-old daughter, Nikki Curtis, in the East Texas city of Palestine.
The toddler was diagnosed with "shaken baby syndrome," a condition that scientifically no longer holds up.
But in 2022, doctors were taught that the presence of three symptoms known as "the triad" — which included subdural bleeding, brain swelling, and retinal hemorrhages — were proof of shaken baby syndrome.
In the absence of witnesses, the diagnosis was accepted as proof that a child had been violently abused.
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Roberson's supporters say doctors misdiagnosed Curtis' injuries as being related to shaken baby syndrome and that new evidence has shown the girl died not from abuse, but from complications related to severe pneumonia.
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Following Mangrum's decision, the U.S. Supreme Court denied Roberson’s request for a stay of execution.
While respecting the denial by Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr., Justice Sonia Sotomayor issued a lengthy statement explaining that the high court did not have grounds to intervene.
"An executive reprieve of thirty days would provide the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles with an opportunity to reconsider the evidence of Roberson’s actual innocence," Justices Alito and Sotomayor wrote. "That could prevent a miscarriage of justice from occurring: executing a man who has raised credible evidence of actual innocence."
Roberson is scheduled to testify at noon Monday.
Fox News Digital's Bradford Betz contributed to this report.