Robert Roberson’s Execution is Stayed by The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals

 (Austin, Texas, October 9, 2025) Today, the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals (CCA) granted a stay of execution to Robert Roberson and remanded his case to the district court to consider whether his case warrants relief for the reasons set forth in the CCA’s 2024 decision in Ex Parte Roark. 

That case, like Roberson’s, involved a conviction predicated on the now-debunked “Shaken Baby Syndrome” hypothesis, and the CCA granted relief to Roark based on its conclusion that the SBS theory—presented at trial through the same child abuse pediatrician and medical examiner who testified at Roberson’s 2003 trial—was not scientifically sound. 

The Court’s order means that Mr. Roberson will not be executed on October 16.

Roberson, a Special Education student when he dropped out of school after the 9^th grade and a person with Autism Spectrum Disorder, is an innocent father who has spent over 20 years on death row in Texas for a crime that never occurred. He was nearly executed last year on October 17, 2024, but his execution was stayed when a bipartisan group of Texas lawmakers acted to prevent an irreparable injustice. Concerns about Roberson’s innocence have generated a groundswell of support in Texas, nationally, and internationally. 

Below is a statement from Gretchen Sween, attorney for Robert Roberson:

“We are relieved and grateful that members of the CCA appreciate the parallels between Andrew Roark’s case and Robert Roberson’s, and the case is being sent back to the district court for further proceedings. The issue will be whether the decision granting relief to the now-exonerated Andrew Roark requires relief for Robert as well. Deciding that issue will, of necessity, require considering the mountain of medical records, scientific studies, expert opinions, and other evidence that proves his very ill little girl died from natural and accidental causes, not shaking or other abuse. Robert adored Nikki, whose death was a tragedy, a horror compounded by Robert’s wrongful conviction that devastated his whole family. We are confident that an objective review of the science and medical evidence will show there was no crime.”

–       Gretchen Sween, attorney for Robert Roberson

–       October 9, 2025

The CCA’s ruling granting Roberson a stay of execution and remanding the case to the district court can be accessed here.

Robert Roberson: An Innocent Man on Texas Death Row

Robert Roberson, a Special Education student when he dropped out of school after the 9^th grade and a person with Autism Spectrum Disorder, is an innocent father who has spent over 20 years on death row in Texas for a crime that never occurred. He was nearly executed on October 17, 2024, but his execution was stayed when a bipartisan group of Texas lawmakers acted to prevent an irreparable injustice. Widespread concerns about Roberson’s innocence have generated a groundswell of support in Texas, nationally, and internationally from bipartisan lawmakers, Autism advocacy groups, the former lead detective who now believes in his innocence, and best-selling author John Grisham, whose forthcoming book will shine a bright light on the injustice in Roberson’s case.

In 2002, Roberson’s two-year old, chronically ill daughter, Nikki, was sick with a high fever and undiagnosed pneumonia when she suffered a short fall from bed. Doctors had prescribed her Phenergan, a powerful medication that is no longer approved for children Nikki’s age and in her condition because of its respiratory-suppressing effects. She was also prescribed Codeine, a narcotic, not recommended for anyone under age eighteen. Roberson took Nikki to the emergency room, where hospital staff did not know he had Autism and judged his response to his daughter’s grave condition as lacking emotion. The police and prosecutors similarly rushed to judgment and, after Nikki tragically died, Roberson was prosecuted, convicted, and sentenced to death under the now-discredited Shaken Baby Syndrome hypothesis.

Roberson has been fighting for his life as the State of Texas has refused to acknowledge the evidence of his innocence while he remains at high risk of execution. He has presented extensive new medical and scientific evidence from highly qualified experts showing that Nikki actually died of severe viral and bacterial pneumonia that medical professionals missed in 2002, not any abuse. Her illness progressed to sepsis and then septic shock, a process likely exacerbated by the dangerous respiratory-suppressing medications she was prescribed during her last days. The medical evidence also shows that she had DIC, a blood-clotting disorder brought on by her advanced infection, which made her more susceptible to internal bleeding and bruising.

Brian Wharton served as the lead detective in the investigation into Mr. Roberson’s daughter’s death and testified on behalf of the State at trial. After reviewing the new evidence, he now believes Mr. Roberson is innocent and has met with Mr. Roberson on death row to ask for his forgiveness. “We made a horrible mistake in this case,” said Rev. Wharton, who is now an elder in the United Methodist Church. “There’s no shame in trying to correct that error now, but it would be a shameful failure for Texas to execute this innocent man. I entreat my fellow Texans who are committed to the sanctity of life to join me in righteous prayer seeking a stop to this injustice.”

On February 19, 2025, Mr. Roberson filed a subsequent application for habeas corpus relief in the CCA. That application presented significant new evidence supporting Mr. Roberson’s actual innocence, including new expert opinions and further scientific developments since the CCA recognized in an October 2024 case – indistinguishable from Mr. Roberson’s – that the purported scientific basis for the “Shaken Baby” conviction is unreliable. This information, the application explained, “demonstrates that (1) no rational juror would find Roberson guilty of capital murder; and (2) unreliable and outdated scientific and medical evidence was material to his conviction.” The filing is available here.

Despite the pending habeas application, on July 16, 2025, the district court granted a request from Attorney General Ken Paxton to schedule Mr. Roberson’s execution for October 16.

The February filing asked the CCA to declare Roberson innocent, grant him a new trial, or at the very least send his case back to the district court for further fact-finding based on the following new evidence bolstering his already overwhelming case of innocence:

• New legal and scientific developments that further undermine the invalid SBS hypothesis used to arrest, convict, and sentenced Roberson to death. These important developments include the CCA’s October 2024 decision in Ex Parte Roark, invalidating the wrongful SBS conviction of a man whose case is indistinguishable from Roberson’s in all material respects;

• The affidavit of Dr. Michael Laposata, a pathologist with special expertise in bleeding disorders, further corroborating and expanding upon the many expert assessments concluding that Nikki’s death was not a homicide;

• The joint statement of 10 independent pathologists attesting to the unreliability of the cause and manner of death conclusions reached by the medical examiner who performed the autopsy on Nikki in 2002, without considering numerous highly relevant factors demonstrating her death was not a homicide;

• Extensive testimony before the Texas House Committee on Criminal Jurisprudence in October and December 2024 addressing concerns that the CCA has not applied Texas’s changed-science law, Article 11.073, as the Legislature intended either generally or specifically in Roberson’s case;

• The Interim Report of the Texas House Committee on Criminal Jurisprudence from November 19, 2024, addressing the correct application of Article 11.073 and the Legislature’s serious concerns about Roberson’s wrongful conviction;

• Other new information, including declarations from witnesses attesting to Roberson’s deep love for his daughter and refuting the character smears the State has lodged against him in its relentless efforts to cling to a wrongful conviction.

The CCA Itself Has Recognized That the “Shaken Baby” Hypothesis Used to Convict Roberson is Scientifically Unfounded 

The February 2025 filing called the CCA’s attention to its own recent decision in Ex Parte Roark, announced on October 9, 2024, just a week before Roberson was scheduled for execution. In that case, the Court overturned a conviction based on the same dubious “Shaken Baby Syndrome” hypothesis supported by unreliable testimony from the very same “Child Abuse Pediatrician” who testified for the State in Roberson’s trial 2003 trial.

Dr. Janet Squires’ SBS diagnosis, based on assumptions that have not withstood the test of time, “was used to arrest, and her trial testimony to convict both Roark and Roberson.” (Application p.2) In Roark, the CCA ruled: “We find that scientific knowledge has evolved regarding SBS and its application in Applicant’s case. In addition, we find that given further study, the experts would have given a different opinion on several issues at a trial today—some already have. The admissible scientific testimony at trial today would likely justify an acquittal.” Ex Parte Roark, 2024 WL 4446858 at *23 (Tex. Ct. Crim. App. 2024). Roberson’s application urges the CCA to apply this same rationale to his case as well.

When both Roark and Roberson were convicted, the consensus in the medical community was that a child must have been violently shaken, and possibly struck against a blunt surface, whenever the child had the triad of symptoms observed in Nikki: bleeding under the dura membrane outside of the brain; brain swelling; and bleeding in the eyes. The consensus in the medical community at that time, was that naturally occurring illnesses or short falls with an impact to the head could not cause this triad of symptoms. The CCA has, however, acknowledged in Ex Parte Roark, that that belief is false.

The medical consensus at the time of trial also presumed that whoever had been caring for the child when she lost consciousness must have been the culprit because violent shaking would cause immediate brain damage, another false assumption. Parents, like Roberson, who denied doing anything to hurt the child, were perceived as callous liars.

Each of the SBS premises considered medical orthodoxy when the Roark and Roberson trials occurred has since been dismantled by evidence-based science, as the CCA acknowledged in Roark. In other words, none of the SBS principles shared with Roberson’s jury as “scientific” fact were actually grounded in science and each has since been debunked by empirical research. Today’s application explains: “The Roark and Roberson cases are indistinguishable in all material respects.” (p.11). As in Roark, Roberson’s conviction must also be overturned.

Since 1992, at least 40 parents and caregivers in 20 states plus the military have been exonerated after being wrongfully convicted under the “Shaken Baby” hypothesis, according to the National Registry of Exonerations.

The filing also called the CCA’s attention to the November 2024 recusal of the district judge who had previously recommended denying Roberson relief after adopting, virtually wholesale, a summary of evidence drafted by the Anderson County District Attorney’s Office. (Application pp.16, 118) The application explains that this recusal underscores the lack of due process he has received and the need for the CCA to reconsider Roberson’s case and, at a bare minimum, remand for further fact-finding before a new judge.

Legislative Testimony and Report Show “Changed Science” Law Has Not Been Correctly Applied in Roberson’s Case

Roberson is alive today because a bipartisan group of Texas lawmakers chose to dig deep into the facts of his case. On October 16 and 21 and December 20, 2024, the House Committee on Criminal Jurisprudence held hearings about whether Article 11.073, the changed-science law Texas lawmakers passed over a decade ago for innocent people like him, is being applied as intended. These hearings demonstrated that Roberson’s case exemplifies how this ground-breaking law has failed to fulfill its promise of granting relief to innocent people who were wrongfully convicted based on subsequently discredited science.

At the hearings, experts presented evidence that Nikki died of pneumonia, exacerbated by improper medications, and how the progression of her disease, along with medical intervention, affected her body by the time the autopsy was performed. The hearing witnesses also explained the absence of evidence of “battery,” or any other abuse and showed that the State’s view of the case is untethered to science or their own evidence at trial.

Lead detective Brian Wharton also testified that Roberson’s case involved a rush to judgment based on flawed medical information and exacerbated by Roberson’s Autism. Dr. Phil McGraw testified in support of Roberson and highlighted that the word “shake” or one of its derivatives was used so many times during Roberson’s trial that he stopped counting.

The record of the legislative hearings also shows that the District Attorney admitted she had not even read any of the new expert medical reports supporting Roberson’s innocence. Lawmakers were dismayed that she could not answer the most basic questions about the facts of the case. These hearings exposed the lack of process Roberson has received in the courts. Over and over, the legislators made clear that the Texas courts had plainly not applied Texas law either as written or as the Legislature intended in adjudicating Roberson’s case.

As part of their investigation into the courts’ flawed implementation of state law, the lawmakers subpoenaed Roberson to appear at a hearing on October 21, 2024, which temporarily stayed his October 17 scheduled execution. Leadership with the Texas Department of Criminal Justice (TDCJ) immediately agreed to facilitate Roberson’s appearance before the lawmakers at the Capitol. But then the Office of Attorney General intervened and blocked the plan for compliance with the subpoena. On November 15, 2024, the Supreme Court of Texas said that subpoena, though valid, could not block a scheduled execution—and thus the testimony should be obtained with that limitation in mind. The Legislators continued to seek Roberson’s testimony, and the Attorney General has continued to block them from doing so.

On November 19, 2024, the House Committee on Criminal Jurisprudence released an Interim Report, one of the important pieces of new evidence supporting today’s filing. With regard to Roberson’s case, the Committee said it “highlighted not just an individual injustice, but the unfulfilled promise of what was intended to be a pioneering Texas law.” The case also “exposed critical problems in both appellate procedure and how our system responds to people with neurodivergence.” (Interim Report p.21)

Roberson’s Case Has Gained Widespread, Bipartisan Support 

As part of February’s filing at the CCA, new declarations were submitted to refute the attacks on Roberson’s character the State has levied in an effort to cling to a wrongful conviction, as well as evidence of the overwhelming support for Roberson’s innocence. That support is demonstrated by the many letters submitted in support of his petition for clemency and widespread news and editorial coverage.

Mr. Roberson’s case continues to generate a groundswell of concern as his wrongful execution looms. One powerful voice calling on Texas to prevent an irreparable injustice is best-selling author John Grisham. On September 10, Mr. Grisham revealed that his next book, “SHAKEN: The Rush to Execute an Innocent Man,” will be published in June 2026. Mr. Grisham said in announcing the book, “The wrongful conviction of Robert Roberson has been an ongoing tragedy for over twenty years. If it now becomes a wrongful execution, it will live in infamy. We don’t know its final chapter, but I’ll be there to record the outcome.”

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.

On October 1, Texas State Representative Lacey Hull (R), Texas Right to Life, Family Freedom Project, family members wrongly accused of child abuse, and Crime Stoppers spoke on 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. Citing the evidence of Mr. Roberson’s innocence and the many flaws in his case, Crime Stoppers Houston called on Texas to grant Mr. Roberson a new trial.

At a rally on October 4, more than 100 supporters chanted “the whole world is watching!” as speakers exhorted Texas not to execute Mr. Roberson. In a statement read by emcee Nan Tolson of Texas Conservatives Concerned About The Death Penalty, State Representative Brian Harrison (R) explained that he strongly supports the death penalty, and explained: “it is actually because of my support for the death penalty that I have been compelled to speak out in the Robert Roberson case. I believe it is most incumbent on those of us who support the death penalty to be the most vigilant in ensuring potentially innocent people are never subjected to it. Executing a potentially innocent person who has never had due process, and who has not had a fair trial, is the opposite of justice!”

State Representative John Bucy, III (D) expressed profound concern that “Texas is about to make a horrible mistake.” He urged the Governor to prevent this injustice, saying: “There is a mountain of evidence before the courts proving that Robert Roberson is innocent, and Governor Abbott can ensure they have time to review it by granting a 30-day reprieve.”

Other speakers included former lead detective Brian Wharton, exoneree Josh Burns, Jacquie Benestante of the Autism Society of Texas, Mr. Roberson’s longtime spiritual advisor Donna Farmer, and attorney Gretchen Sween. Tom Mooney of Bikers for Christ read a statement from Mr. Roberson thanking his supporters and Ms. Sween read a statement from author John Grisham.

On October 6, NBC’s Dateline began airing a four-part investigative podcast about Mr. Roberson’s case, hosted by Lester Holt, entitled “The Last Appeal.” The first episode of this podcast revealed explosive new evidence of judicial misconduct: the Anderson County judicial officer whose identity was previously unknown to Mr. Roberson’s legal team, and who they only recently learned had violated Texas law and circumvented Mr. Roberson’s parental rights by telling the hospital—inaccurately—that Nikki’s maternal grandparents could authorize her removal from life-sustaining care, was the very judge who then presided over Mr. Roberson’s capital murder trial. Mr. Roberson has notified the CCA about this newly revealed evidence of a structural error requiring a new trial.

On October 8, a bipartisan group of Texas lawmakers again traveled to death row to pray with Mr. Roberson.

A family photo of Robert Roberson can be accessed here. Source: Roberson Family.

A photo of Roberson praying on death row with Texas lawmakers in October 2024 can be accessed here: https://tinyurl.com/3as85map.

Watch New York Times Opinion Video by former lead detective Brian Wharton here.