FORT WORTH, Texas — More than 80 state legislators Tuesday formally asked Gov. Greg Abbott and the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles to delay or stop the state from executing a man convicted of killing his two-year-old daughter.
Last week, the state's highest court of criminal appeals denied a motion to delay Robert Roberson's execution. The court did not consider the case's merits, instead ruling on procedural grounds.
Roberson is scheduled to die on Oct. 17, though scores of public figures, lawmakers, and scientists aim to stop the execution.
"In most wrongful conviction cases, you've got a murder or a bad crime where somebody did it," author John Grisham said during a news conference Tuesday. "But in Robert's case, the amazing part is there was no crime. We're about to kill somebody again in Texas. That's why it's so infuriating."
In 2002, Roberson's two-year-old daughter fell off her bed in their East Texas home.
Roberson consoled the girl and put her back to bed, but found Nikki basically brain-dead the following morning. He took her to the hospital, where she died.
At the time, doctors believed only a car crash, multi-story fall, or Shaken Baby Syndrome could cause the kind of brain damage Nikki sustained. Prosecutors argued Roberson must have shaken Nikki and killed her.
"I testified at Robert's trial for the state and my testimony helped convict him of murder and send him to death row, but for all the years since I've believed justice was not done," said Brian Wharton, the former Palestine police officer who investigated Roberson's case.
"We didn't know that we didn't have the best information, but now we do," Wharton said.
Since Roberson's conviction, researchers have determined other incidents, including shortfalls, could cause the "triad" of symptoms affecting Nikki's brain. They also determined that a child cannot have Shaken Baby Syndrome without certain neck injuries, which Roberson's attorneys say Nikki did not have.
Nikki was also chronically ill and went to the emergency room with pneumonia and a 104-degree fever the week she died. Doctors prescribed the 2-year-old Phenergan and cough syrup containing Codeine, medications now deemed too strong for children.
Each prescription could have suppressed the child's respiratory system. A toxicology report showed potentially lethal levels of Phenergan in Nikki's system upon her death, Roberson's attorneys say.
During Roberson's trial, prosecutors told jurors that Roberson appeared unaffected by his daughter's death. Years later, doctors would diagnose the man with autism.
"The state of Texas is preparing, in essence, to execute Forrest Gump," Roberson's attorney, Gretchen Sween, said.
In 2023, prosecutors argued their evidence remains "clear and convincing." Several courts of appeal have denied Roberson's plea for a new trial, though a judge previously stayed his execution in 2016.
"We shouldn't be executing someone when there is this much doubt about whether a crime was even committed," Rep. Joe Moody, D-El Paso, said during a separate news conference.
Democrats and Republicans, including DFW Reps. Jeff Leach, Charlie Geren, and Rhetta Bowers say they support Roberson's petition for clemency.
Sween said she will also petition the state's supreme court to consider Roberson's case.