Texas inmate Robert Roberson could be executed for the first time in the US over the death of a “shaken baby.”

A man convicted in Texas is set to die this month in the country’s first execution for “shaken baby syndrome,” a scientific diagnosis that has been successfully challenged in some criminal cases.

After filing a clemency petition with the state ahead of his execution scheduled for Oct. 17, Robert Roberson said in an interview with NBC News anchor Lester Holt that aired Thursday that he is calling on Texas Gov. Greg Abbott , to pardon and “admit” him. I’m going home.

For more on this story, watch NBC Nightly News with Lester Holt tonight at 6:30 pm ET/5:30 pm CT.

“Look at the support I have, Mr. Governor, and I just hope and pray that you do the right thing,” said Roberson, who was convicted of capital murder in the 2002 death of his 2-year-old daughter.

The Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles, which declined to comment, must first recommend a pardon to the governor.

Abbott has used his clemency powers sparingly. He did so in May when he pardoned an Army sergeant who was convicted last year of murder in the fatal shooting of a Black Lives Matter protester in 2020.

His office did not respond to requests for comment.

Texas nearly executed Roberson in 2016, but the trial was halted days earlier by the state’s highest criminal court, allowing a lower court to hold an evidentiary hearing. Last year, the state appeals court rejected Roberson’s request for a new trial because no new scientific data was compelling, and last month it also rejected his request to stay his execution.

Roberson, 57, said he hopes Abbott will be persuaded by the support he is receiving, including from a bipartisan coalition of state lawmakers, medical experts and even the original investigator in his case, who testified against him , but now believes no crime was committed.

“I want the public to know that I am innocent,” Roberson told Holt. “It’s not my fault.”

Evidence in court

Roberson said that in the early morning of Jan. 31, 2002, he woke up in his East Texas home with a “strange scream” and found his daughter Nikki had fallen out of bed. He comforted her and they fell back asleep, according to court documents.

But hours later, Roberson said, he woke up to find Nikki wasn’t breathing and her lips looked blue. He took her to an emergency room, where doctors concluded she was showing signs of brain death. She was pronounced dead the next day.

Because of her condition, which included a head injury with bleeding, brain swelling and a retinal hemorrhage, a doctor in Dallas determined she died as a result of what’s known as “shake baby syndrome,” in which a child is shaken so violently The action is believed to occur causing head trauma.

The lead investigator on the case, Brian Wharton, accepted the diagnosis of shaken baby syndrome and Roberson was arrested before the autopsy was even completed.

Wharton testified against Roberson in his 2003 murder trial. Prosecutors stressed that they believed Roberson intentionally shook Nikki, causing bruising and blunt force trauma, and that he appeared almost emotionless as he took her to the hospital.

Roberson has since attributed his “seemingly blank reaction” at the time to an autism spectrum disorder, which he was diagnosed with in 2018. Additionally, at his trial, his defense attorneys were not permitted to have a medical expert testify about his claims of “mental insanity” and “deficiencies” caused by a brain injury.

Science in transition

The concept of shaken baby syndrome emerged in the 1970s. Scientists suspected that detecting certain symptoms could explain serious head injuries in infants.

But medical science — and the term — have evolved over the years, said Kate Judson, executive director of the Center for Integrity in Forensic Sciences, a nonprofit organization. In a recent press conference organized by Roberson’s lawyers, Judson said that “other phenomena, such as B. short falls with head impact or many naturally occurring illnesses such as pneumonia” are now understood to explain many symptoms that were once thought to indicate abuse.

In 2009, the American Academy of Pediatrics changed the name “Shaked Baby Syndrome” to the broader definition of “Abusive Head Trauma” to include injuries caused by mechanisms other than shaking alone.

But even experts who support the scientific validity of abusive head trauma, like Dr. Andie Asnes, professor of pediatrics at Yale School of Medicine and member of the Executive Council on Child Abuse and Neglect of the American Academy of Pediatrics, warn that the diagnosis is complex and requires comprehensive analysis.

“When diagnosing abusive head trauma, context is absolutely critical. Nobody can make this diagnosis when a lot of other important information is missing,” Asnes said. “In other words, if I simply see an injury in a child, I cannot look at an injured child and see what happened to them unless I hear an explanation from someone who may have seen what happened to them is.”

She added that a child’s medical history is “crucial in making a diagnosis.”

While it is “extraordinarily dangerous to shake an infant,” Asnes said, simply looking at the symptoms of bleeding, brain swelling and retinal hemorrhage would be “a significant oversimplification of the multi-step, thoughtful process that leads to the final diagnosis of abusive head trauma.” “

Asnes told NBC News that she was unfamiliar with Roberson’s case and could not comment on the specifics of the sentencing.

Hundreds of cases of possible shaken babies and abusive head injuries are reported to U.S. hospitals each year, according to a nonprofit advocacy group. While there have been criminal trials for such injuries that have resulted in convictions, scrutiny of medical testimony has also led to reversals: Since 1992, at least 34 defendants have been later acquitted of allegations of shaken baby syndrome or abusive head trauma, according to the National Exoneration Registry, which provides sentences for unlawful violations Convictions recorded.

Robert Dunham, director of the Death Penalty Policy Project, an independent research program, and special counsel for the nonprofit law firm Phillips Black, said Roberson would be the first person in the U.S. to be executed because of a shocking baby diagnosis. A Mississippi man on death row for diagnosing a concussed baby was re-sentenced to life in prison in 2018 after a re-examination of the evidence.

Actual causes

Attorney Gretchen Sween, who joined Roberson’s case about two months before his scheduled execution in 2016, said she was struck by how little investigators had taken into account Nikki’s past health problems. Nikki was chronically ill and had to be hospitalized repeatedly in the days before her fall because of persistent breathing problems and fever.

“The shaken baby concept didn’t work,” Sween said. “But a look at the medical records also showed that this was a very, very sick child. And everyone rejected that in court.”

The defense contends, based on re-analyzed autopsy reports, that Nikki suffered from undiagnosed pneumonia that impaired her ability to absorb oxygen and caused her brain to swell, and that she was given a high dose of a drug no longer prescribed to children young as she was.

Wharton, the former police detective on Roberson’s case, said he believed Roberson’s “flat affect” while his daughter was in the hospital meant he was “hiding something.”

Since Roberson’s conviction, Wharton said he has a better understanding of Nikki’s diagnosis and wishes he had had more information about her medical history to begin with.

Wharton was using his background in the case to advocate for Roberson, he said in an interview with Holt.

“I owe Robert nothing less,” said Wharton, who retired from law enforcement to study at a theological seminary. “My life in law enforcement and my life in general has always been about truth and, I hope, justice, and we have come to a point where the truth about Robert is being avoided and justice is not being served .”

Roberson told Holt he was grateful for the support. He no longer feels anger over his years in prison and the way he was treated when his daughter died. As a single father, he took care of Nikki after her mother lost custody due to personal reasons.

Prayer and forgiveness, he said, help him stay positive.

“Bitter just hurts,” Roberson said. “If I don’t forgive, it hurts me and I stay bitter.”