Attorneys for Robert Roberson, a Texas death row inmate set to be executed on October 16 for the 2002 death of his 2-year-old daughter, Nikki, are citing new evidence from a “Dateline” podcast that they say reveals judicial misconduct and bolsters their case for a new trial.
If carried out, the execution would mark the first in the U.S. tied to a “shaken baby syndrome” conviction. Thirty-five people who were convicted based on a “shaken baby syndrome” diagnosis are listed on the National Registry of Exonerations, ProPublica reported.
In a Monday filing with the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals, Roberson’s legal team pointed to an interview conducted by “Dateline” anchor Lester Holt with Nikki’s maternal grandfather, Larry Bowman, as “highly relevant” to claims that Anderson County Judge Bascom Bentley violated Roberson’s right to an impartial trial.
“Matter of fact, Judge Bentley told ’em we were the parents,” Bowman said, referring to Bentley’s call to the hospital directing staff to contact the Bowmans to authorize removing Nikki from life support, NBC 5 DFW reported.
Roberson’s lawyers argue that Bentley, who died in 2017, misrepresented the Bowmans’ authority, as Roberson had sole custody of Nikki since November 2001. Bentley also signed Roberson’s arrest warrant based on the “shaken baby syndrome” diagnosis and presided over nearly all proceedings in his 2003 trial, which ended in a death sentence.
“Any objective member of the public, with knowledge of the new facts, would reasonably believe that Judge Bentley had prejudged Mr. Roberson’s guilt,” the filing states, asserting he should have recused himself to preserve impartiality.
“It’s shocking that we are discovering the truth about this glaring, undisclosed evidence of bias only by chance, from a podcast, days before Robert is scheduled to be executed for a tragedy that has been mislabeled as a crime,” said Gretchen Sween, Roberson’s attorney, per NBC 5.
“This is just more fundamental. It’s like a judge should not be involved in circumventing the law to end a life, to arrest him and be involved in the facts and then preside over a trial. It’s not right,” she told FOX 4 KDFW.
Roberson’s defense recounts that in January 2002, he awoke to find Nikki unconscious with blue lips after she fell from bed, rushing her to an emergency room in East Texas. Within days, he was arrested for capital murder based on the now-disputed “shaken baby syndrome” diagnosis.
Recent science, the defense argues, shows other medical conditions may explain Nikki’s death, undermining the conviction. A separate appeal to the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals claims Roberson’s imprisonment is illegal due to “overwhelming evidence” of discredited science.
Last year, bipartisan Texas lawmakers, including Rep. Rhetta Bowers (D-Rowlett), secured a last-minute stay of execution via a legislative subpoena.
“I think that everyone witnessed that last year that we were fighting until the very end, until we could get that stay of execution for Robert Roberson,” Bowers said, per Fox 4.
“This is about fundamental faith in the rule of law that you just don’t go by what your instincts tell you, you have to have a fair process, or you end up with innocent people on death row,” she said, according to Fox 4.
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, who has called Roberson’s actions a brutal murder, is pushing for the execution. His office did not respond to requests for comment, and Gov. Greg Abbott’s office declined to participate in the “Dateline” podcast.