Citing Overwhelming Evidence of Innocence in Wrongful “Shaken Baby” Case, Robert Roberson Asks Fifth Circuit to Authorize New Federal Habeas Petition

(October 1, 2025) Today, attorneys for Robert Roberson, an innocent man facing execution in Texas on October 16^th for a crime that never occurred, have filed motions asking the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit to stay his execution and authorize him to file a successive petition for writ of habeas corpus in federal court asserting a due process claim based on the overwhelming evidence that he was convicted using discredited “science” and proving his innocence. For many years, Mr. Roberson has asked the state courts to consider the ever-growing body of evidence showing that the 2002 death of his chronically ill toddler daughter, Nikki, resulted from illness, improperly prescribed medications, and accident, and was not a crime. Widespread concerns about Mr. Roberson’s innocence have generated a groundswell of support in Texas, nationally, and internationally from the former lead detective who now believes in his innocence, a bipartisan group of lawmakers, Autism advocacy groups, and best-selling author John Grisham, whose forthcoming book will shine a bright light on the injustice in Mr. Roberson’s case.

The motion for authorization provides a detailed account of the circumstances leading to Nikki’s death and the rush to judgment against Mr. Roberson, fueled in part by a lack of understanding about his then-undiagnosed Autism Spectrum Disorder. Today’s filings detail the extensive new evidence Mr. Roberson has repeatedly asked the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals (“CCA”) to consider, including in a still-pending subsequent habeas application filed more than seven months ago. The motion argues that, in light of the CCA’s inaction and his looming execution date, the federal court must step in to prevent his wrongful execution.

“This case presents that rare circumstance when the law allows a litigant to return to federal court and ask that the constitutional right to due process be vindicated,” said Gretchen Sween, one of Mr. Roberson’s attorneys. “The overwhelming evidence demonstrating that no crime occurred and that Robert’s daughter died, tragically, from a pneumonia that her doctors missed, has taken years of fighting to amass. We can prove that Robert is innocent, and no reasonable jury would find otherwise if presented with all relevant medical evidence.”

The motion describes a mountain of evidence amassed since 2016 that proves Mr. Roberson is innocent, but that the state courts have refused to consider. For example, CT scans and other records Mr. Roberson’s attorneys had to fight for years to access, and have now had independently reviewed, completely undermine the State’s theory that Nikki was violently shaken or otherwise abused. Mr. Roberson’s conviction was based on a since-debunked “Shaken Baby Syndrome” (SBS) “diagnosis” made by a child abuse pediatrician and by the hasty homicide finding of a medical examiner who failed to review, let alone consider, any of Nikki’s medical history or available records, including the CT scans of her head during her final hospitalizations in a case supposedly involving head injuries. (Motion for Authorization, pp.3-5)

As a result of the newly available evidence, “every aspect of Nikki’s condition has been explained.” (p. 30) The “last piece of the puzzle”—presented to, but as yet not addressed by, the state court— is new evidence detailing how Nikki’s severe pneumonia had devolved to the point of sepsis and how her history of unresolved infections caused a bleeding disorder known as DIC, which made her more susceptible to internal bleeding and bruises. (p.30) And, as demonstrated by the CT scans and hospital photos, the DIC, as well as the extensive treatment Nikki received during two days of hospitalization, materially changed her appearance during the two days of her final hospitalization. But, as the federal filings explain, the medical examiner never recognized the DIC or her pneumonia or the respiratory-suppressing medications Nikki had been prescribed by the doctors who treated her during the days before her final collapse. The medical examiner never reviewed any of Nikki’s medical records. Therefore, the medical examiner did not compare the objective evidence of Nikki’s condition upon arrival at the hospital with her condition two days later.

Instead, today’s motion explains, the medical examiner simply presumed that everything she saw during the autopsy had been caused by inflicted injury. (p. 31) Yet internal bleeding that had not existed when Nikki arrived at the hospital cannot logically be attributed to events that supposedly occurred before Nikki was brought to the hospital.

The authorization motion points to an expert analysis by Dr. Michael Laposata, a nationally recognized pathologist with expertise in bleeding disorders, pointing to clear indications of DIC in Nikki’s medical records and blood tests. While other medical and scientific evidence has long undermined the SBS hypothesis, Dr. Laposata’s review thoroughly dismantles the medical examiner’s claim that the only explanation for Nikki’s condition was “blunt force trauma” inflicted by unwitnessed shaking and impacts. According to Dr. Laposata, “the most plausible explanation for Nikki Curtis’ bleeding and bruising is the development of DIC starting months before the event which took her life.” (p. 31)

Mr. Roberson’s motion is also supported by the review of ten independent pathologists who submitted a joint statement rebuking the medical examiner’s methodology and “expressing profound concerns” about the medical examiner’s refusal to revisit her autopsy in light of significant new evidence. (p. 34) These pathologists urge a reexamination of Nikki’s autopsy based on all available, relevant information. The pathologists note that, in presuming that Nikki’s death had been caused by inflicted injury, the medical examiner failed to consider and exclude “those medical diseases which can mimic” internal head conditions associated with accidental or inflicted head trauma, including pneumonia, sepsis, and DIC, all of which Nikki had. (p. 34)

The motion argues that procedural barriers to successive habeas petitions should not bar Mr. Roberson’s due process claim because the new evidence and changed science undermine the very basis for his conviction. But for the due process violation, he argues, no reasonable factfinder would have found him guilty.

Mr. Roberson’s case has generated widespread concern from doctors, scientists, disability rights advocates, parental rights groups, and a bipartisan committee of Texas lawmakers who intervened to block his execution last October. Additionally, the former lead detective who investigated the case and testified for the State at Mr. Roberson’s trial is firmly convinced that Mr. Roberson is innocent and has visited him on death row to seek his forgiveness. Likewise, bestselling author John Grisham, who has studied and written about the case, is convinced of Mr. Roberson’s innocence. Mr. Grisham revealed earlier this month that his next book, slated for release in June 2026, will be entitled “SHAKEN: The Rush to Execute an Innocent Man,” and will delve deeply into Mr. Roberson’s case as he anxiously watches.

On September 4, the Center for Integrity in Forensic Sciences released an open letter to Texas authorities signed by nearly two dozen exonerees. At a press conference announcing the letter, four exonerees – two of whom were, like Mr. Roberson, wrongfully convicted based on the SBS hypothesis – urged Texas authorities to stop his wrongful execution.

On September 24, the Autism Society of Texas and Autism Society of America issued an open letter that similarly called on Texas authorities to prevent Mr. Roberson’s wrongful execution. Those organizations also hosted a webinar entitled “Robert Roberson, Autism, and Injustice,” at which four renowned experts in Autism discussed how individuals like Mr. Roberson who are on the Autism spectrum are often misjudged and mistreated in courtrooms, police interactions, and incarceration settings. A recording of the program is available here.

Today, Texas State Representative Lacey Hull (R), Texas Right to Life, Family Freedom Project, family members wrongly accused of child abuse, and Crime Stoppers are holding an event to address the impact of false allegations of child abuse by medical practitioners and the importance of due process in protecting parental and patient’s rights in end-of-life decisions. Mr. Roberson’s daughter was removed from life-sustaining treatment without her father’s knowledge or consent and in violation of Mr. Roberson’s and Nikki’s rights.

On Monday, October 6, NBC’s Dateline will begin airing a four-part investigative podcast about Mr. Roberson’s case, hosted by Lester Holt, entitled “The Last Appeal.”