DALLAS COUNTY, Texas — About 25 years ago, Andrew Wayne Roark was found guilty of violently shaking his girlfriend's 13-month-old child. Now, the Dallas County District Attorney has overturned his conviction, citing advancements in medical understanding that no longer support the state's theory that the baby was injured by shaken baby syndrome.
Roark, 48, was exonerated after an "extensive and careful re-evaluation of the evidence by the Dallas County District Attorney’s Office’s Conviction Integrity Unit," according to a press release from the Dallas County District Attorney's Office.
Shaken baby syndrome was used to convict Roark of injury to a child, accusing him of violently shaking the child, the release states. The Criminal Court of Appeals called the diagnosis of shaken baby syndrome the most "persuasive evidence at the trial," the release states. However, changes in science led the District Attorney’s Office to conclude that there is no remaining credible evidence that Roark injured the baby, the release states.
“There exists no evidence in which we could support a conviction, and [we] believe Mr. Roark is actually innocent,” Dallas County Criminal District Attorney John Creuzot said in a release. “We firmly believe would the same facts and circumstances occur today, Mr. Roark would be acquitted of any charges brought against him, therefore he should enjoy the presumption of innocence.”
Shaken baby syndrome was also used to convict Robert Roberson, who is currently awaiting execution on death row after a bipartisan group of Texas lawmakers worked to delay his death. Those lawmakers argue that shaken baby syndrome is now considered "junk science" and that his child most likely died from natural causes.
Jeff Leach, one of the lawmakers working to pause Roberson's execution, reacted to the exoneration Monday.
The Dallas County District Attorney's Office agreed to review trial court findings in findings in 2014, 2019, and 2023 and recommended his conviction be vacated based on Texas law which deals with changes in scientific evidence that was used to convict, the release states.
Roark was represented by the Innocence Project of Texas, the release states. His exoneration marks the 47th in Dallas County since 2001.
