Texas board rejects clemency plea for man facing execution over concussive baby death

A Texas agency has rejected a clemency request for a man facing execution for a case of shaken baby syndrome, despite doubts about the evidence in the case.

The Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles voted against commuting Robert Roberson’s death sentence to life in prison or postponing his execution scheduled for Thursday.

Roberson, 57, is scheduled to receive a lethal injection for the 2002 murder of his 2-year-old daughter, Nikki Curtis, in the East Texas city of Palestine. Roberson has long maintained his innocence.

The parole board’s decision came a day after an East Texas judge last week rejected requests from Roberson’s lawyers to stop his lethal injection by revoking the execution order and dismissing the judge who issued the warrant.

Roberson’s planned execution has reignited the debate over shaken baby syndrome. This is a serious brain injury that occurs when a child’s head is injured by shaking or other violent impacts.

Roberson’s lawyers and a bipartisan group of Texas lawmakers, medical experts and others have called on Gov. Greg Abbott to stop Roberson’s execution. They say his conviction was based on flawed and outdated scientific evidence related to shaken baby syndrome.

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Abbott can only grant a pardon after receiving a recommendation from the board. However, Abbott has the authority to grant a one-time, 30-day deferral without the board’s recommendation.

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.

“We urge Governor Abbott to grant a 30-day reprieve so that litigation can proceed and a court can hear the overwhelming new medical and scientific evidence showing that Robert Roberson’s chronically ill two-year-old daughter Nikki died of natural or accidental death “Cause, not abuse,” Gretchen Sween, one of Roberson’s lawyers, said in a statement to Fox News Digital. “A reprieve will also give Texas lawmakers time to examine why the state of Texas’ vaunted habeas law, which allows prisoners to challenge convictions based on scientific evidence that turns out to be disproven or false, is not holding up in court is intended to be used.”

The American Academy of Pediatrics, other medical organizations and prosecutors say the diagnosis is valid and that doctors examine everything – 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.

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

The Associated Press contributed to this report.