Calls for mercy mount as Texas death row inmate faces execution for a crime his advocates say did not happen

Advocates of Texas death row inmate Robert Roberson are pleading for the state to halt its plans to execute him Thursday for the murder of his 2-year-old daughter – a crime Roberson says he did not commit.

Calls to spare the life of Texas death row inmate Robert Roberson are growing, with just over a day left before the state plans to execute him for the murder of his 2-year-old daughter – a crime Roberson’s advocates say did not happen. If he’s put to death Thursday evening, Roberson’s attorneys say he would be the first person in the US executed based on a conviction that relied on shaken baby syndrome – a misdiagnosis in Roberson’s case, they argue, and one they say has been discredited. While child abuse pediatricians remain firm on the validity of the diagnosis, Roberson’s attorneys say there is ample evidence that his daughter, Nikki Curtis, did not die of child abuse. At the time of her death, she had double pneumonia that had progressed to sepsis, and she had been prescribed two medications now seen as inappropriate for children that would have further hindered her ability to breathe, they argue, citing medical experts. Additionally, she had fallen off a bed, and was particularly vulnerable in her sickly condition, Roberson’s attorneys say. Other factors, too, contributed to his conviction, they argue. His behavior in the emergency room – viewed as uncaring by doctors, nurses and the police – was actually a manifestation of autism spectrum disorder, which went undiagnosed until 2018. Roberson’s attorneys are not disputing that babies can and do die from being shaken. But they contend that more benign explanations, including illness, can mimic the symptoms of shaking, and those alternative explanations should be ruled out before a medical expert testifies with certainty that the cause of death was abuse. As two of his latest appeals failed Tuesday, Roberson’s attorneys filed a request for a stay of execution with the US Supreme Court, arguing his due process rights were violated when the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals declined to consider additional evidence the inmate says would support his innocence claim. A separate appeal was also filed Tuesday with the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals.