Robert Roberson: Texas House committee hears testimony in death row inmate’s case

AUSTIN, Texas – Death row inmate Robert Roberson did not attend a hearing Monday. Roberson was subpoenaed by the House Jurisprudence Committee as a way to stop his execution, which was scheduled last week.

Members of the House Committee on Criminal Jurisprudence emerged from a Capitol Extension meeting room Monday afternoon missing one notable person. Appearing before the committee in person, the attorney general’s office argued, posed a security risk. That argument was rejected by committee chairman Joe Moody.

“If the commission wanted to take a heavy-handed approach, there are dramatic ways we could enforce that subpoena. But we did not issue the writ to create a constitutional crisis. And we are not interested in escalating divisions between branches of government,” said El Paso Democrat Joe Moody.

The governor’s office filed a legal brief with the state Supreme Court this weekend. It alleged that the House committee exceeded its constitutional authority by halting Roberson’s execution with a civil subpoena, and that the governor alone has the power to grant clemency.

As the hearing was underway in a hallway, a prayer was said by a group of seminary students opposed to the death penalty.

“Well, we believe that the spirit moves everywhere. And what we really hope is that the Holy Spirit can move the hearts of our government the way it moves the hearts of the legislators who organized this hearing to hear the truth .’ said Sascha Anderson, who led the hallway prayer.

Robert Roberson was sentenced to death after being convicted of murdering his young daughter Nikki. Defense attorneys say the conviction for a shocked baby was based on flawed and outdated science. About a decade ago, state lawmakers passed a law requiring appellate courts to address this argument.

On Monday, State Rep. Drew Darby expressed concern that the law he helped pass is not being properly enforced.

“And so it’s up to this legislative committee to look at the basics of what’s going on here. Did the appellate court take a position inconsistent with the statutory language we laid out for them? Do they ignore that? and say, yes, it has changed, but it doesn’t determine who, the guilt or the innocence. That is a level I originally envisioned in 2013 and 2015,” said Darby (R) San Angelo.

Plano Republican Jeff Leach said the hearing was not a partisan fight or about constitutional powers. Leach said it’s about justice.

“Today this hearing, the purpose of this hearing, our purpose is to come together and issue a subpoena to Mr. Roberson and to meet last week and today and in what is likely to be another hearing is to questions and finding the truth. To find out where the system went wrong, where it failed Nicky, and to try to fix it, not just in his case, but to make sure it never happens again,” Leach said.

MORE STORIES:

The committee heard testimony from two notable celebrities: Dr. Phil McGraw and crime writer John Grissom.

Dr. Phil did a prison interview with Roberson a few years ago and noted how Roberson struggled with autism. Dr. Phil also told the committee: “You can’t convict someone for something that has been debunked by the medical community.”

“I don’t think any crime was committed. I think this was a case where, tragically, the child was chronically and acutely ill. I think there were some problems with the medication, and I think that contributed, but certainly don’t think this child was attacked,” said Dr. Phil.

Grissom, an attorney, told the committee how one of his books, “The Innocent Man,” and the Oklahoma case that influenced the book, led to his conviction now that many innocent people are in prison. A friend asked Grissom to look into Roberson’s case, stating that the trial was “totally unfair.”

“As a lawyer, it always bothers me when I study these types of cases, and I realize how unfair the trial was because I’ve been in that courtroom many times and I know what it takes to get a fair trial,” Grisham said .

But the most powerful testimony this afternoon came from Terry Compton, a former juror in Roberson’s 2003 trial. Compton told the committee: If they had had the new information now available about shaken baby deaths at trial, there would have been would have been a different outcome. .

“Everything we were presented with was about shaken baby syndrome, that’s what our decision was based on. Nothing else was ever mentioned or presented to us to think about. If we had been told, I would have had a different opinion. and I would not have found him guilty,” Compton said.

Compton testified before state representatives about her change of heart, stating that she was unaware of the 2-year-old’s medical history before her death.

“We were given no other explanation for anything else that could have happened to her. The plaintiff even took a teddy bear or baby doll and picked it up and shook it to show us what shaken baby syndrome was,” Compton said.

According to Compton, jurors were told the child was sick. Roberson took her to the pediatrician where she was given medication. Days later, she was taken to the emergency room with a high fever.

‘They gave her some Finegan with cough syrup in it, codeine. And he had taken her back home and the next thing we were told was that when she rolled off the bed, I think she was fine, and he put her back in bed with him and when he woke up again, she became unresponsive and that’s when he took her to the emergency room,” Compton said.

“Do you have any memory of multiple impact locations where Nikki was struck in multiple parts of her head?” asked State Rep. Brian Harrison.

“No sir, the only thing that might have been mentioned was that she might have had a small bruise where she fell out of bed,” Compton replied.

It remains unclear when or if a new execution date will be set for Roberson.