How does Texas’ “junk science” law apply to the Robert Roberson death row case?

Robert Roberson is scheduled to testify before a Texas Legislature committee on Monday, the first time a person on death row has had such an opportunity.

Roberson was scheduled to be executed Thursday, but the night before, the Texas House Criminal Justice Committee voted 7-0 to subpoena him to appear before the panel. They want him to talk about how the state’s “junk science” law, which allows people to challenge beliefs with new science, was applied in his case.

Related:AG calls on Robert Roberson to testify virtually before Texas House, citing security concerns

Roberson, 57, was convicted of murder in 2003 for reportedly shaking his 2-year-old daughter Nikki to death. He has maintained his innocence throughout his two decades on death row, and his conviction has been questioned as the “shaken baby syndrome” theory, which was used in part for his conviction, was later challenged.

“While our focus is on Robert Roberson, we are here because his case has shined a light on our new scientific judicial system,” Rep. Joe Moody, D-El Paso, said at Wednesday’s hearing. “Every member of this committee was surprised at how it was applied in this particular case.”

The law, passed in 2013, allows people to challenge their convictions based on new scientific evidence that was not available at the time of the trial.

Roberson’s original execution date in 2016 was postponed to allow him a hearing under the “junk science” law. That hearing was delayed by the COVID-19 pandemic and took place in 2022, Anderson County District Attorney Allyson Mitchell testified Wednesday.

State experts believed blunt force trauma was the cause of Nikki’s death, Mitchell recalled, and Roberson experts testified that Nikki died as a result of severe pneumonia. The Anderson County District Court found that Roberson did not meet the criteria for an appeal based on the evidence presented, a decision that the Texas Court of Appeals affirmed.

Roberson isn’t the only person on death row whose request for relief under the “junk science” law was denied, according to a report from the Texas Defender Service.

The report presented at Wednesday’s hearing found that in no case had the appeals court used this law to grant relief to a person facing the death penalty. According to the report, the Court of Criminal Appeal grants relief primarily in DNA cases and pays less attention to other types of false forensic evidence.

Roberson will be one of several witnesses to testify at Monday’s committee hearing, Rep. Jeff Leach, R-Plano, told conservative radio host Mark Davis on Friday.