Texas Supreme Court halts execution of autistic man amid shaken baby case

The Texas Supreme Court issued a last-minute stay of execution to an autistic man whose murder conviction was based on what his lawyers say was a misdiagnosis of "shaken baby syndrome."

Robert Roberson, 57, had been scheduled to die by lethal injection at the state penitentiary in Huntsville on Thursday for the February 2002 death of his two-year-old daughter, Nikki.

But the Texas Supreme Court temporarily stayed the execution following an appeal from Texas lawmakers who issued a subpoena to Roberson so he can testify before a House committee that is examining his conviction.

"If the sentence is carried out, the witness obviously cannot appear," wrote Justice Evan Young.

A bipartisan group of 86 Texas lawmakers has urged clemency for Roberson, citing "voluminous new scientific evidence" that casts doubt on his guilt. The committee has subpoenaed him to testify on Monday.

Roberson is one of two death row inmates who were to be executed in the United States on Thursday.

Derrick Dearman, 36, was put to death by lethal injection in Alabama for the 2016 axe murders of five people who were related to his girlfriend, Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall said.

"The gruesome facts of this case merited the ultimate punishment," Marshall said.

Dearman confessed to the killings and had abandoned appeals against his death sentence.

Roberson, however, has maintained his innocence and his attorney, Gretchen Sween, said there is "overwhelming new medical and scientific evidence" that shows his daughter died of "natural and accidental causes, not abuse."

The diagnosis of shaken baby syndrome, made at the hospital where Roberson's chronically ill daughter died, was erroneous and the cause of death was pneumonia, which was aggravated when doctors prescribed improper medication, Sween said.

His legal efforts had been thwarted however until the Texas Supreme Court decision.

The Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles declined by a 6-0 vote to recommend clemency to Roberson and the US Supreme Court also rejected his request for a stay of execution, denying it without comment.

Roberson's case has drawn the attention of the Innocence Project, which works to reverse wrongful convictions, as well as best-selling American novelist John Grisham, Texas lawmakers and medical experts.

'An innocent man'

Also among those seeking to halt his execution is the man who put him behind bars -- Brian Wharton, the former chief detective in the town of Palestine.

"Knowing everything that I know now, I am firmly convinced that Robert is an innocent man," Wharton said at a recent press conference organised by Roberson's supporters.

Grisham, author of the legal thrillers "The Firm" and "A Time to Kill," also appeared at the event and said: "What's amazing about Robert's case is that there was no crime."

Roberson would be the first person executed in the United States based on a conviction of shaken baby syndrome, according to his lawyers.

Kate Judson of the Center for Integrity in Forensic Sciences said more than 30 parents and caregivers in 18 US states have been exonerated after being wrongfully convicted using "unscientific" shaken baby testimony.

Sween said Roberson's autism spectrum disorder, which was not diagnosed until 2018, contributed to his arrest and conviction.

"It is quite possible that Mr. Roberson would not be on death row today, but for his autism," she said.

Sween said staff at the hospital where his daughter was admitted did not know he had autism and "judged his flat affect as a sign of guilt."

There have been 20 executions in the United States this year including five in Alabama.