After a tumultuous week, Robert Roberson was granted a stay of his execution to allow him to testify before a Texas House committee next week.
Roberson, 57, was convicted of capital murder in 2003 for reportedly shaking his 2-year-old daughter, Nikki, to death. He was scheduled to be executed by lethal injection Thursday evening in Huntsville.
He has maintained his innocence in his two decades on death row, and doubt has been cast on his conviction due to the “shaken baby syndrome” theory partially used to convict him being later disputed.
Here’s a timeline of how events in the case progressed this year:
July 3: Roberson’s execution is scheduled for Oct. 17. This is the second time his execution has been scheduled since his initial conviction in 2003.
Aug. 1: Attorneys for Roberson ask the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals to intervene and stay the order, citing new evidence that Roberson’s daughter died of pneumonia and reiterating claims about the changed understanding of “shaken baby syndrome.”
Sept. 11: The criminal appeals court denies this request.
Sept. 17: Roberson’s attorneys file a clemency petition, asking for his sentence to be commuted or for the execution to be delayed 180 days. Texas lawmakers also held a press conference asking for a pause of the execution.
Sept. 27: A group of lawmakers visits Roberson in the Allan B. Polunsky Unit in Livingston to meet, pray and share hope. The 90-minute visit came less than two weeks after more than 80 state lawmakers signed a letter raising “grave concern” that Texas was again preparing to execute Roberson “for a crime that did not occur.”
Oct. 7: Roberson’s lawyers again ask the criminal appeals court to intervene and halt the execution.
Oct. 10: The appeals court again denies the request.
Oct. 15: Anderson County Administrative Judge Alfonso Charles rejects arguments from Roberson’s attorneys that his death warrant is illegitimate because the judge who oversaw post-conviction proceedings erred. This closes another possible avenue to stop the execution.
Oct 15: Attorneys for Roberson file a petition asking the U.S. Supreme Court to intervene.
Oct. 16, 1:30 p.m.: Clemency petition is denied one day out from the execution. Members of the Texas Board of Paroles and Pardons unanimously do not recommend clemency or a 180-day stay of the execution.
Oct. 16, 6:20 p.m.: Legislators vote unanimously at the end of a daylong hearing to subpoena Roberson. The Texas House Committee on Criminal Jurisprudence wants Roberson to testify Monday at a hearing about how the state’s “junk science” law allowing people to challenge convictions with new science was applied in his case. This was a novel approach that likely has never been used in the history of Texas for a condemned inmate with only hours to live.
Oct. 17, 4:35 p.m.: State District Judge Jessica Mangrum in Travis County pauses the execution to allow Roberson to comply with the subpoena.
Oct. 17, 4:40 p.m.: The U.S. Supreme Court declines the appeal to stop the execution. Justice Sonia Sotomayor criticizes the Court of Criminal Appeals and said it has been inconsistent on shaken baby syndrome rulings.
Oct. 17, 7:40 p.m.: The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals reverses the district judge’s pause of the execution, clearing the way for it to go forward. This time, four judges on the appeals court dissent.
Oct. 17, 9:40 p.m.: The Texas Supreme Court blocks the execution, directing state officials to allow the death row inmate to comply with a subpoena.
