Anti-death penalty activists protest against the death penalty in Texas

Death penalty advocates held a rally in Texas over the weekend calling for the abolition of the death penalty, as several high-profile death penalty cases in Texas and other states have sparked debate over whether the death penalty should remain in place.

Former death row inmates spoke at the 25th annual March to Abolish the Death Penalty on Saturday, according to Fox 26. The march, which takes place every fall, features state abolitionists, former death row inmates and anti-death penalty allies, all coming together for a To call for an end to the death penalty and the state-sanctioned death of prisoners on death row.

Many of the advocates said they were fighting for innocent people like Robert Roberson, who is currently on death row for his conviction in which prosecutors say he killed his 2-year-old daughter, Nikki Curtis, by shaking her to death, which is known as “Shocked” is called baby syndrome. However, his lawyers say Nikki actually died of other health problems such as pneumonia and that new evidence proves his innocence. His lawyers also said doctors failed to rule out these other medical explanations for the child’s symptoms.

Roberson was scheduled to be executed Thursday before the state Supreme Court issued a stay shortly before his scheduled execution to delay his execution. He would have been the first person in the United States to be executed for shaken baby syndrome.

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The delay came Thursday evening after a bipartisan group of state lawmakers subpoenaed Roberson on Monday to testify about his case. The ruling came after the Texas Court of Appeals on Thursday evening rejected a request to stay the execution, overturning a judge’s preliminary injunction that had been issued the same day.

More than 80 Texas state legislators, as well as the detective who assisted in the prosecution, medical experts, parental rights groups, human rights groups, best-selling author John Grisham and other advocates have called on the state to pardon Roberson because of his belief that he is innocent. A group of state lawmakers also visited Roberson in prison to encourage him.

At the rally in Texas, former death row inmate Pamala Tise said she had been locked up for a total of 40 years.

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Tise was sentenced to death at age 24 after being convicted of two counts of murder, Fox 26 reported. Her original conviction was overturned in 1983, but after a retrial she was sentenced to death again. The following year she was returned to death row and remained there until 2000.

“I was not innocent of my crime. When I committed my crime I was doing a lot of drugs and when I came off the drugs a week later and realized what we had done, I turned myself in to the police,” Tise said. according to Fox 26.

But in 2000, her conviction was overturned due to a conflict of interest. She was released from death row after a plea deal was reached that reduced her murder charge to two counts of aggravated robbery.

“So I went in at 24 and came out at 64,” said Tise, who now opposes the death penalty.

“To have someone executed would be the easy way out for me. Spending the rest of your life in prison is hell on earth,” Tise added.

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Gloria Rubac, an organizer with the Texas Death Penalty Abolition Movement, said, “Harris County has more people on death row than any state.”

The activists said they hope a court will hear the new evidence in Roberson’s case when he testifies on Monday.