Texas man whose execution was halted doesn't appear at state Capitol after subpoena

Texas man whose execution was halted doesn’t appear at state Capitol after subpoena

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Robert Roberson was scheduled to appear Monday before a Texas House committee after a last-ditch subpoena forestalled his execution last week. Instead, “Dr. Phil” McGraw and best-selling author John Grisham testified about Roberson’s murder conviction linked to a diagnosis of shaken baby syndrome. (AP video: Mark Vancleave)

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The Texas Supreme Court halted Thursday night’s scheduled execution of a man who would have become the first person in the U.S. put to death for a murder conviction tied to a diagnosis of shaken baby syndrome.

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What is shaken baby syndrome? The diagnosis refers to a serious brain injury caused when a child’s head is injured through shaking or some other violent impact, like being slammed against a wall or thrown on the floor, usually by an adult caregiver.

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Dr. Phil McGraw, center, leaves the room after giving testimony to a committee discussing the case of death row inmate Robert Roberson, Monday, Oct. 21, 2024, in Austin, Texas. (AP Photo/Tony Gutierrez)

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FILE - Texas lawmakers meet with Robert Roberson at a prison in Livingston, Texas, Sept. 27, 2024. (Criminal Justice Reform Caucus via AP, File)

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Dr. Phil McGraws, in blue suit gesturing with hands, makes comments during a committee hearing in the case of death row inmate Robert Roberson, Monday, Oct. 21, 2024, in Austin, Texas. (AP Photo/Tony Gutierrez)

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Jennifer Martin, left, and Thomas Roberson, older brother of condemned prisoner Robert Roberson, right, holds signs as they protest outside the prison where Roberson is scheduled for execution at the Huntsville Unit of the Texas State Penitentiary, Thursday, Oct. 17, 2024, in Huntsville, Texas. (AP Photo/Michael Wyke)

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Dr. Phil McGraw stands as he leaves the room after giving testimony to a committee discussing the case of death row inmate Robert Roberson, Monday, Oct. 21, 2024, in Austin, Texas. (AP Photo/Tony Gutierrez)

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Texas state representatives Lacey Hull, left, and John Bucy III comment during a press conference after the stay granted by the Texas Supreme Court to halt the execution of Robert Roberson, at the Huntsville Unit of the Texas State Penitentiary, Thursday, Oct. 17, 2024, in Huntsville, Texas. (AP Photo/Michael Wyke)

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Sascha Anderson, right, and Sam McRae, left, hold signs as they stand outside a room where a committee is discusing the case of death row inmate Robert Roberson, Monday, Oct. 21, 2024, in Austin, Texas. (AP Photo/Tony Gutierrez)

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Dr. Phil McGraw, in blue suit, leaves the room after giving testimony to a committee discussing the case of death row inmate Robert Roberson, Monday, Oct. 21, 2024, in Austin, Texas. (AP Photo/Tony Gutierrez)

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Media members are seen inside a hearing room where committee members are discussing the case of deathrow inmate Robert Roberson, Monday, Oct. 21, 2024, in Austin, Texas. (AP Photo/Tony Gutierrez)

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Capitol staff members look into a room where a committee is is discussing the case of death row inmate Robert Roberson, Monday, Oct. 21, 2024, in Austin, Texas. (AP Photo/Tony Gutierrez)

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A person waiting outside a hearing room watches a live feed of the committee hearing as State Rep. Joe Moody, D-El Paso, makes comments Monday, Oct. 21, 2024, in Austin, Texas. (AP Photo/Tony Gutierrez)

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Barrett Hess, left, and Marcella Marino, right, hold signs as they stand outside a room where a committee is discussing the case of death row inmate Robert Roberson, Monday, Oct. 21, 2024, in Austin, Texas. (AP Photo/Tony Gutierrez)

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Dr. Phil McGraws, in blue suit gesturing with hand, makes comments during a committee hearing in the case of death row inmate Robert Roberson, Monday, Oct. 21, 2024, in Austin, Texas. (AP Photo/Tony Gutierrez)

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Dr. Phil McGraw, in blue suit sitting at table, gives testimony to the state House Committee on Criminal Jurisprudence during a committee hearing in the case of death row inmate Robert Roberson, Monday, Oct. 21, 2024, in Austin, Texas. (AP Photo/Tony Gutierrez)

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The state House Committee on Criminal Jurisprudence listens to testimony from Terre Compton, sitting at table center left, a resident of Palestine, Texas, and a member of the jury that convicted Robert Roberson, Monday, Oct. 21, 2024, in Austin, Texas. (AP Photo/Tony Gutierrez)

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State Rep. Brian Harrison, R-Midlothian, holds a statement as he questions a witness during the committee hearing regarding the death row case of Robert Roberson, Monday, Oct. 21, 2024, in Austin, Texas. (AP Photo/Tony Gutierrez)

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Texas Rep. Joe Moody, D-El Paso, right, talks with Rachel Wetsel, clerk for the state House Committee on Criminal Jurisprudence, left, as a witness gives testimony in the committee hearing regarding the case of death row inmate Robert Roberson, Monday, Oct. 21, 2024, in Austin, Texas. (AP Photo/Tony Gutierrez)

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Jennifer Martin, center, and Thomas Roberson, in green shirt, right, attend a committee hearing on Robert Roberson’s death row case, Monday, Oct. 21, 2024, in Austin, Texas. (AP Photo/Tony Gutierrez)

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Thomas Roberson, older brother of condemned prisoner Robert Roberson, attends a committee hearing on Roberson’s death row case, Monday, Oct. 21, 2024, in Austin, Texas. (AP Photo/Tony Gutierrez)

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Jennifer Martin attends a committee hearing on Robert Roberson’s death row case, Monday, Oct. 21, 2024, in Austin, Texas. (AP Photo/Tony Gutierrez)

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Texas Rep. Jeff Leach, R-Plano, right, poses a question to a witness as Rep. David Cook, R-Mansfield, left, listens during a committee hearing regarding the death row case of Robert Roberson, Monday, Oct. 21, 2024, in Austin, Texas. (AP Photo/Tony Gutierrez)

By NADIA LATHAN

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — A Texas man whose execution was halted and then called to testify at the state Capitol did not show up Monday over growing pushback from state leaders who have blasted lawmakers’ last-ditch tactics to subpoena Robert Roberson and spare his life for now.

His absence at a highly anticipated state House committee meeting was another twist in what has become one of Texas’ most unusual and contested death row cases. A group of Republican and Democratic lawmakers have rushed to Roberson’s defense, saying outdated science led to a jury convicting him of killing his 2-year-old daughter in 2002.

After they subpoenaed Roberson last week to buy him more time, the attorney general’s office opposed efforts to bring him to the state Capitol and told the state’s highest court that doing so would present “myriad security and logistical concerns.”

The delayed execution has opened a rift in Texas between legislators and state GOP leaders, including Republican Gov. Greg Abbott, who say the last-minute maneuver on Roberson’s behalf crossed a line.

“If this committee wanted to take a heavy-handed approach, there are dramatic ways that we could enforce that subpoena,” Democratic state Rep. Joe Moody said. “But we didn’t issue the subpoena to create a constitutional crisis, and we aren’t interested in creating division between branches of government.”

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Roberson had been set last Thursday to become the first person in the U.S. executed over a murder conviction connected to a diagnosis of shaken baby syndrome. He was taken to America’s busiest death chamber and was waiting in a holding cell when the Texas Supreme Court abruptly halted plans to give him a lethal injection.

Moody, the chairman of a state House committee that led efforts to stop the execution, said discussions about having Roberson eventually testify were still ongoing.

The Texas Attorney General’s Office had told lawmakers that Roberson would only appear by videoconference, which Moody said would be “poorly suited” for Roberson because he is autistic.

“That doesn’t mean Robert won’t testify at all,” said Moody, without saying when Roberson might testify or how.

Among those testifying Monday about Roberson’s case was daytime television psychologist “Dr. Phil” McGraw and best-selling author John Grisham. The veteran talk show host McGraw threw his full support behind Roberson, stating that there was not enough evidence to convict him of a crime.

“If you execute people when you now know better, you need to abolish the death penalty. If that’s the standard by which you’re gonna execute people, you’ve got a bad system,” McGraw said.

Roberson’s claims of innocence are backed by a group of Republican and Democratic legislators who say he was convicted based on outdated science.

Roberson received the death penalty for the 2002 death of daughter Nikki Curtis in the East Texas city of Palestine. Prosecutors argued that the infant’s death was caused by serious head trauma from being violently shaken back and forth. Roberson’s attorneys say that the bruising on Curtis’ body was likely due to complications with severe pneumonia and not child abuse.

Once Roberson testifies to lawmakers, prosecutors could seek a new execution date at any time, according to Gretchen Sween, one of his attorneys.

Lawmakers had sought to have Roberson transported from death row to appear in person, raising the possibility of an extraordinary scene in the Texas Capitol. However, the state attorney general’s office told the committee he would appear virtually.

Abbott’s office said the Texas Supreme Court should toss out the subpoena, writing that the House committee has “stepped out of line” in their first public statement on the case.

Almost 90 lawmakers across party lines, medical experts and civil rights advocates had called on Abbott to stay his execution. Abbott has not commented on Roberson’s case and the Texas parole board rejected pleas to grant clemency.

Rebuffed by the courts and Texas’ parole board in their efforts to spare Roberson’s life, legislators last Thursday subpoenaed Roberson to testify. Lawmakers on the House committee have expressed frustration with Texas’ junk science law, which they say has failed to work as intended, including in Roberson’s case.

The 2013 law allows a person convicted of a crime to seek relief if the evidence used against them is no longer credible. At the time, it was hailed by the Legislature as a uniquely future-proof solution to wrongful convictions based on faulty science. But Roberson’s supporters say his case points to faults in the judicial system where the law has been weakened by deliberate misinterpretation from the state’s highest criminal court.

In the last 10 years, 74 applications have been filed and ruled on under the junk science law. A third of applications were submitted by people facing the death penalty. All of them were unsuccessful.

Anderson County District Attorney Allyson Mitchell, whose office prosecuted Roberson, has previously told the committee that a court hearing was held in 2022 in which Roberson’s attorneys presented their new evidence to a judge, who rejected their claims.

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Lathan is a corps member for the Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues.