Texas judge sets new execution date for death row inmate Robert Roberson

By Ashley Killough, Dakin Andone, CNN

(CNN) — A Texas judge on Wednesday set a new execution date for Robert Roberson, a death row inmate who says he is innocent of murder in the 2002 death of his 2-year-old daughter.

Judge Austin Reeve Jackson set the date for October 16 – almost one year after Roberson was previously scheduled to be put to death. The execution was halted following a remarkable maneuver by state lawmakers who had championed the inmate’s case, prompting the Texas Supreme Court to issue a stay.

The new execution date sets the stage for another potentially high-stakes battle to spare Roberson’s life. His attorneys have argued he was wrongfully convicted based on allegations his daughter, Nikki Curtis, died of shaken baby syndrome – a diagnosis they say has since been discredited. Roberson’s attorneys and supporters say he deserves another trial in light of new evidence they believe will prove his innocence.

Gretchen Sween, Roberson’s attorney, said the judge’s decision Wednesday should outrage Texans, calling her client “a demonstrably innocent man.”

“Everyone who has taken the time to look at the evidence of Robert Roberson’s innocence—including the lead detective, one of the jurors, a range of highly qualified experts, and a bipartisan group of Texas lawmakers—has reached the same conclusion: Nikki’s death was a terrible tragedy,” Sween said. “Robert did not kill her. There was no crime.”

While child abuse pediatricians remain firm on the validity of the shaken baby syndrome diagnosis, Roberson’s attorneys say the diagnosis is inaccurate. If put to death, they say Roberson would be the first person in the US executed for a conviction based on an allegation of shaken baby syndrome.

Roberson’s attorneys say there is ample evidence his daughter did not die of child abuse but myriad health issues, including pneumonia, sepsis and a combination of prescribed medications now seen as inappropriate for children.

Roberson currently has a pleading pending for the state’s Court of Criminal Appeals.

Roberson was set to be executed last October, but at the eleventh hour, a state House committee issued a subpoena for the inmate’s testimony as they considered the lawfulness of his conviction. The unprecedented tactic prompted a debate over the separation of powers and led the state Supreme Court to temporarily halt the execution so it could consider the request.

In November, the state Supreme Court cleared the way for a new execution date to be set by a state judge. The judge in Anderson County, who had previously set Roberson’s execution date, later recused herself from the case.

The district attorney in the case requested Attorney General Ken Paxton’s office to take over prosecutorial power, and Paxton’s office last month requested a new execution date. Judge Jackson, who’s from another county, was assigned to the case.

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