Robert Roberson, whose execution was stayed by the Texas Supreme Court, is expected to testify before the legislative panel on Monday

AUSTIN – Robert Robersonthe man from Texas whose execution was stopped by the state Supreme Courtis expected to testify before a legislative panel on Monday.

Roberson was set to become the first person in the United States to be executed for murder because of “shaken baby syndrome” before the court intervened late Thursday night and events escalated dramatically.

Lawmakers are now seeking to re-examine the controversial medical theory that played a key role in his conviction.

The Texas House of Representatives Criminal Justice Committee will begin hearing testimony at noon Monday.

Roberson issued a statement praising God and thanking his supporters following his overnight stay of execution by the Texas Supreme Court.

Texas Supreme Court issues stay

That ruling came after a volatile legal battle in which the Texas Court of Appeals early Thursday evening rejected a request to stay the execution, overturning a temporary order from Travis County Judge Jessica Mangrum. This ruling by the state appeals court was in response to an appeal by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton of Mangrum’s ruling.

In an effort to delay the execution, Roberson was subpoenaed Wednesday night by a bipartisan group of Texas lawmakers on the House Criminal Justice Committee after the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles previously rejected Roberson’s clemency request.

“The underlying criminal matter is within the jurisdiction of the Court of Criminal Appeals, but the relief sought here is civil in nature, as are the claims presented in the district court,” Texas Supreme Court Justice Evan Young wrote in his brief Opinion. “Whether the legislature may use its authority to compel the presence of witnesses to block the executive branch’s authority to carry out a death sentence is a question of Texas civil law, not its criminal law.”

The warrant expires at midnight. A state prison spokesman previously said staff and guards were on site and ready when Roberson’s appeal options were exhausted.

The US Supreme Court also rejected a request to stay the execution on Thursday evening. Justice Sonia Sotomayor wrote in her ruling that “the Supreme Court is unable to act without a final federal claim, and because the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles has rejected a recommendation of clemency, only one remedy remains: granting it.” an executive stay delaying Roberson’s execution for thirty days.

Such a reprieve would have to come from Gov. Greg Abbott.

“A thirty-day executive pardon would give the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles an opportunity to reexamine the evidence of Roberson’s actual innocence,” Sotomayor wrote. “This could prevent a miscarriage of justice from occurring: the execution of a man who has provided credible evidence of actual innocence.”

Mangrum’s injunction went to Texas Lawmakers issued a subpoena against Roberson, 57 There was a last-minute legal attempt to stop his execution on Wednesday evening, which would be the first in the country associated with one Shaken baby syndrome Diagnosis. Roberson was scheduled to receive a lethal injection at 6 p.m. Central Time on Thursday for the 2002 death of his 2-year-old daughter, Nikki Curtis, in the East Texas city of Palestine.

“This is an extraordinary remedy,” Republican state Rep. Jeff Leach of Plano said during arguments Thursday. “But it’s not inappropriate.”

Republicans and Democrats on the House Criminal Justice Committee believe Roberson deserves a new trial based on the medical theory that the death of his chronically ill daughter was caused by violent shaking known as shaken baby syndrome, widely believed by many experts Science was dismissed as nonsense.

Leach said more than 80 lawmakers had signed a letter “calling for Roberson’s execution to be paused” because they believed his testimony was vital.

“We were joined by people from the far left in the Texas House of Representatives to people on the far right — people we’ve had a hard time working with on other issues,” said Rep. John Bucy (D-Williamson County) in Huntsville Thursday. “We came together because the people in the House of Representatives who have looked closely at this and reviewed the evidence know that Robert Roberson is an innocent man and this execution should not move forward.”

The summons came after that The Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles rejected a clemency request Wednesday for Roberson.

Over the past two days, Roberson’s attorney at the Innocence Project expressed confidence that his life would be spared.

“We asked the Supreme Court to stop Texas from making a devastating, irreparable mistake by failing to provide Robert Roberson with due process,” Roberson’s attorney Gretchen Sween said in response to the SCOTUS decision. “Yesterday, the Texas House of Representatives heard a full day of testimony documenting the failure of this process. No one who heard this testimony could be left in any doubt that Robert is completely innocent and never received a fair trial.”

Concerns raised by Roberson’s supporters

Roberson’s lawyers and supporters don’t deny that head and other injuries from child abuse are real, and claim doctors misdiagnosed Curtis’ injuries as being related to shaken baby syndrome. They also claim that Roberson’s conviction was based on flawed and now outdated scientific evidence related to shaken baby syndrome.

The diagnosis refers to a severe brain injury caused by a child’s head being injured by shaking or other violent impact, such as being thrown against a wall or thrown onto the floor.

His supporters said new evidence showed the girl died not from abuse but from complications related to severe pneumonia.

Among those protesting Thursday’s planned execution was police officer Brian Wharton, who helped put Roberson on death row.

“Let me just say, Robert is an innocent man,” Wharton said. “But more than that, he’s a friendly man. He is a gentle man. He’s a lovely man.”

The American Academy of Pediatrics, other medical organizations and prosecutors say the diagnosis is valid and that doctors look at all sorts of things, including any medical conditions, when determining whether injuries are due to shaken baby syndrome.

The Anderson County District Attorney’s Office, which prosecuted Roberson, said in court documents that after a hearing in 2022 to review new evidence in the case, a judge rejected theories that pneumonia and other illnesses caused Curtis’ death.

Prosecutors contend Roberson’s new evidence does not refute her claim that Curtis died from her father’s injuries.

What courts have said about shaken baby syndrome

In recent years, courts across the country have overturned convictions or dropped shaken baby syndrome-related charges, including in California, Ohio, Massachusetts and Michigan.

In a ruling last week in another shaken baby syndrome case in Dallas County, the Texas Court of Appeals ordered a new trial after determining that scientific advances related to the diagnosis would now likely lead to an acquittal in the case .

But the appeals court has repeatedly rejected Roberson’s request to stay his execution, most recently last week.

At least eight people have been sentenced to death in the United States for shaken baby syndrome, said Robin Maher, executive director of the Death Penalty Information Center. Two of those eight were exonerated and Roberson is the only one given execution dates.

“According to the National Exoneration Registry, at least 30 people across the country have been exonerated based on this discredited scientific theory,” Maher said.

But Danielle Vazquez, executive director of the Utah-based National Center on Shaken Baby Syndrome, said a 2021 research article found that 97% of the more than 1,400 shaken baby syndrome/abusive head trauma convictions from 2008 to 2018 were confirmed and that this was the case. Convictions were rarely overturned on the basis of medical evidence.