Robert Roberson remains hopeful as he faces another execution date in shaken baby syndrome case

LIVINGSTON Texas AP Robert Roberson was calm and hopeful as he pondered his mortality and whether he could again avoid becoming the first person in the U S executed for a murder conviction tied to the finding of shaken baby syndrome With days to go before his scheduled Oct execution Roberson maintained his innocence in the death of his -year-old daughter Nikki Curtis in the east Texas city of Palestine He is set to die by lethal injection nearly a year to the day after a group of Texas lawmakers who say he is innocent secured an extraordinary last-minute court reprieve as Roberson waited outside the death chamber in Huntsville Roberson stated he was placing his hopes for another execution stay in the hands of his lawyers his supporters and God I m not going to stress out and stuff because I know God has it you know He s in control No matter what God s in control you know and he does have the last say you know Roberson reported The Associated Press last week as he sat behind a glass partition in the visiting area of the Polunsky Unit in Livingston where Texas male death row inmates are housed During an hourlong interview Roberson commented he thinks about his daughter every day and what kind of life she would have in the current era Prosecutors at Roberson s trial argued he hit his daughter and violently shook her causing severe head trauma and that she died from injuries related to shaken baby syndrome Roberson s lawyers and a few curative experts say his daughter died not from abuse but from complications related to pneumonia They say his conviction was based on flawed and now outdated scientific evidence The determination of shaken baby syndrome refers to a serious brain injury caused when a child s head is hurt through shaking or specific other violent impact like being slammed against a wall or thrown on the floor Roberson s attorneys have argued his undiagnosed autism helped convict him as officials and curative personnel felt he didn t act like a concerned parent because his flat affect was seen as a sign of guilt A last-minute stay of execution Last year Roberson was on the verge of being put to death when a flurry of last-minute legal maneuvering on the night of his scheduled execution including an unprecedented intervention by a bipartisan group of Texas lawmakers stayed his lethal injection In July a judge set the new execution date Roberson s third During his interview with the AP Roberson often would not keep eye contact and would repeat words or phrases behaviors that experts say are associated with autism They assumed guilt because of the way I was acting you know And I didn t know I was autistic you know until years and years later you know revealed Roberson who wasn t diagnosed with autism until Roberson s supporters and his legal group are again holding rallies and asking state and federal appeals courts and Texas Gov Greg Abbott to halt his execution His supporters include both liberal and ultraconservative lawmakers Texas GOP megadonor and conservative activist Doug Deason bestselling author John Grisham and Brian Wharton the former police detective who helped put together the affair against him The whole world is watching Texas do not kill this innocent man Wharton explained during a rally Saturday outside the Texas Capitol building in Austin Attorney general and others insist Nikki died of child abuse The office of Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton as well as specific health experts and other family members of Nikki maintain the girl died because of child abuse and that Roberson had a history of hitting his daughter It s been a long time coming In my opinion he did it Matthew Bowman Nikki s half brother communicated reporters in July Bowman declined to speak with the AP Abbott s office did not right now reply to emails seeking comment Abbott has the power to grant a one-time -day reprieve Roberson reported he never hurt his daughter and had been working to turn his life around and take care of Nikki after spending time in prison for burglary and theft by check I never shook her or hit her Roberson mentioned adding he never disciplined his daughter because she was so tiny Shaken baby syndrome has come under scrutiny in contemporary years as a few lawyers and diagnostic experts have argued the finding has wrongly sent people to prison Prosecutors and curative societies say it remains valid It s no longer a mystery what happened to Nikki It was not shaking It was her chronic serious medical conditions Gretchen Sween one of Roberson s lawyers revealed at Saturday s rally A crime didn t occur But in a Sept op-ed in The Dallas Morning News three pediatricians including two with the Yale School of Medicine disclosed they reviewed the circumstance and are convinced that Nikki was a victim of child abuse Roberson says he s optimistic he will get a chance to prove innocence Roberson was arrested after he took Nikki to a hospital when she became unresponsive following a fall off their bed He commented he had never heard of shaken baby syndrome It was bad enough losing my little girl And then when they accused me of it I couldn t believe it Roberson reported In a press release issued after Roberson s execution was delayed last year as well as in modern court filings Paxton s office has stressed that this was no mere shaken baby matter but involved a child who was beaten and received multiple blows to the head Paxton s office announced the jury did not convict Roberson on the basis of Shaken Baby Syndrome Yet one of the jurors who convicted Roberson Terre Compton recounted lawmakers last year that everything that was presented to us was all about shaken baby syndrome That is what our decision was based on Grisham who is writing a book about the affair revealed Roberson s trial was grossly unfair because his autism contributed to people believing he was guilty and his defense lawyers informed jurors it was a development of shaken baby syndrome Roberson disclosed he remains optimistic he will one day get a chance to prove his innocence with a new trial I m not scared to die but I m not ready to die you know I would like to believe God has more for me to do and stuff you know Roberson noted Follow Juan A Lozano https x com juanlozano Source