Texas House Subpoenas Death Row Inmate to Delay Execution

By a unanimous vote, the Texas House Judiciary and Civil Jurisprudence Committee voted to subpoena a death row inmate in an apparent effort to delay the man’s execution. The committee voted to subpoena Robert Roberson, who is scheduled to be executed on Thursday in connection to a shaken baby death.

Texas State Representative Jeff Leach (R-McKinney) and all members of the House Judiciary and Civil Jurisprudence Committee voted late on Wednesday to issue what Quorum Report’s Scott Braddock called a “historic bid to halt a Texas execution” by subpoenaing death row inmate Robert Roberson.

Roberson, now age 57, was convicted in 2003 for shaking his two-year-old daughter, Nikki, to death. The man also suffers with autism. He is scheduled to be executed on Thursday after a recent ruling by the Texas Board of Pardons and Parole denied his clemency request.

After the clemency denial, the legislators voted unanimously to issue the subpoena, the Dallas Morning News reported.

The rare bipartisan effort to halt Roberson’s execution comes after science debunked the so-called “shaken baby syndrome.”

“I’ve been doing this long enough to know and to see when the system has failed somebody,” Leach said on Texas Capital Tonight. “The Legislature has a role to step in and to make sure that our justice system is not just preserved, but is strengthened.”

State Representative Joe Moody told the Dallas Morning News, “Although our focus is Robert Roberson, we’re here because his case has shined a light on our new science writ law.”

“Every member of this committee has been surprised by how it has been applied in this particular case,” Moody said. “Quite frankly, we’ve reviewed this case in detail, fully expected that this law would provide relief, and that has not happened.”

The Texas Legislature passed the law in 2013 to allow for a new hearing when scientific discoveries emerge following the initial conviction.

The Dallas newspaper reported Roberson’s attorneys and other experts who argued the conviction is based on “faulty and now outdated science.” They believe Nikki died from complications related to severe pnemonia.

The question Wednesday night is, what, if any impact will the subpoena have on Thursday’s scheduled execution.

Houston criminal defense and appellate attorney Carmen Roe told Breibart Texas Wednesday night, “This is a clear message from the House committee that we are moving too fast, especially considering last week’s reversal of a similar shaken baby syndrome conviction from Texas’ highest criminal court.”

“Ultimately, the subpoena is likely to be quashed or ignored,” Roe stated. “Either way, a subpoena from the House Committee cannot trump a death warrant.”