A Texas death row inmate is scheduled to testify before lawmakers who have secured a reprieve

By Jonathan Allen

(Reuters) – A man on death row in Texas who had expected to be executed on Thursday evening is now scheduled to testify next week before state lawmakers who believe he may have been wrongly convicted of murdering his 2-year-old daughter and He was given an extraordinary reprieve to safety.

Robert Roberson, 56, was scheduled for execution by lethal injection. He was convicted in 2002 based on a now-discredited understanding of shaken baby syndrome.

Lawmakers in the state’s Republican-controlled House of Representatives have been considering Roberson’s case as they debate whether to strengthen a Texas law that addresses convictions related to so-called junk science.

Roberson said he found out his daughter Nikki had fallen out of bed and stopped breathing shortly afterward — days after a doctor diagnosed her with a viral infection and prescribed medication that medical experts say shouldn’t be given to young people Children.

In recent years, doctors have said that abuse occurs in shaken baby syndrome and can cause symptoms that brain scans showed Nikki was experiencing, but that these could also be present in cases where abuse has not occurred.

Roberson had repeatedly and unsuccessfully sought a new trial after Texas passed a law in 2013 that gave convicted people a new opportunity to appeal if their prosecution had been based on scientific evidence and hypotheses that had since been outdated or debunked.

On Wednesday, lawmakers voted to issue a subpoena for Roberson to testify before the House Criminal Justice Committee. On Thursday, they secured an order from a Texas judge to stay the execution and prohibit state officials from preventing Roberson from answering the subpoena.

Roberson is expected to appear in person at the State Capitol in Austin on Monday afternoon.

“This was an extraordinary maneuver by these Texas lawmakers, and it served its purpose,” said Robin Maher, director of the Washington-based Death Penalty Information Center. “I hope that everyone involved in this case, particularly state officials pushing for a new execution date, has an opportunity to consider their options.”

(Reporting by Jonathan Allen in New York; Editing by Donna Bryson and Will Dunham)