DALLAS — Texas lawmakers still don’t know when they will hear directly from a Texas man whose execution was suddenly halted after an unprecedented, last-ditch effort.
Rep. Jeff Leach, R-Collin County, said they’re working actively to make the testimony happen and he’s hopeful they’ll soon hear from Robert Robertson in person.
In fact, Rep. Leach thinks it’s so important for lawmakers to hear from him face-to-face, that members of the Criminal Jurisprudence Committee might soon meet with Roberson on death row at the Polunsky Unit in Livingston.
“Look, anything can happen logistically. Where there’s a will, there’s a way. We’re working collaboratively, and have been for many days now, with House Administration, with the Texas Department of Criminal Justice, with DPS, with local law enforcement there to make this safe for everybody involved, most importantly him,” Rep. Leach told us on Inside Texas Politics.
Roberson, 57, was set to be executed Thursday, Oct. 17, in connection with the 2003 conviction in the death of his two-year-old daughter Nikki Curtis.
He has claimed his innocence for roughly two decades with his lawyer citing junk science as the reason for his conviction.
According to the Associated Press, Roberson would have been the first person in the U.S. to be executed over a "Shaken Baby Syndrome" conviction.
And that’s why Leach feels it’s so important to get this right and take the time to hear from Roberson.
“There’s a reason that we issued a subpoena. And what we did was unprecedented, I believe, anywhere in American history,” Leach said. “So, we did so because we have serious questions about this case, about the system, about his guilt or innocence, about whether a crime even occurred.”
The Texas Supreme Court ultimately blocked Roberson’s execution.
And a war of words between the varying branches of government has ensued ever since.
Governor Greg Abbott and Attorney General Ken Paxton have made clear they want the execution to continue, with Abbott saying lawmakers “stepped out of line” and Paxton posting the entire autopsy report of the young victim, Nikki Curtis.
Eight House Republicans filed an amicus brief in the Texas Supreme Court asking for justice for Curtis and urging the execution to continue.
But Rep. Leach argues that the legislative branch and the lawmakers seeking more information have a vital role to play in death penalty cases.
“We have seen a problem. We have seen a potentially innocent Texan within 20 steps and 20 minutes of being put to death by the state receiving a lethal injection of Pentobarbital, something all of us, every branch of government has to own when we do that,” he emphasized.
Rep. Leach stresses he and other lawmakers aren’t looking to release Roberson onto the street tomorrow, arguing instead for a new trial.
For now, the Texas Supreme Court has only delayed Roberson’s execution.
But the clock has been reset and there’s no new date yet.