Despite a subpoena issued last week, death row inmate Robert Roberson did not appear before the Texas House Committee on Criminal Jurisprudence to testify about the crime for which he has been condemned to die. Roberson has long maintained his innocence, and his execution was recently put on hold while the committee examines his case.
At issue, primarily, is the diagnosis of shaken baby syndrome, which was at the heart of the evidence against Roberson for the murder of a child.
Scheduled for execution last Thursday, Roberson was guilty of the 2002 death of his 2-year-old daughter, Nikki Curtis, who died under circumstances that were later classified as “shaken baby syndrome.” But in a dramatic turn, the Texas Supreme Court last week issued a partial stay of execution that allowed Roberson to live a few more days. The stay came on the heels of an unprecedented action by the Texas House Committee on Criminal Jurisprudence, which subpoenaed Roberson to testify about his case before the committee. Roberson's attorneys have objected to the testimony for reasons of safety and sanity, and have even tried to play up the "gag order" the committee might be using when the Texas House of Representatives is a sunshine-y place that's not supposed to be gagging anyone.
Monday’s hearing featured a group of witnesses that included not only attorneys who had worked on shaken baby cases but also a juror from the trial of the man whose innocence is being contested. Dr. Phil McGraw, who has interviewed the innocent man in a special show about his case, was also part of the Monday witness lineup. Both the man’s attorney and a clinical psychologist testified that the man’s undiagnosed autism at the time of his trial likely played a significant role in the pretrial and trial processes. The panel of witnesses provided a glimpse of the potential for an alternative to the ruling given by the jury that found the man guilty of first-degree murder.
Roberson faces near-impossible problems when it comes to communication and social interpretation. Lawmaker appearances, for him, translate into seeing for the eyes of authority what has been known for long in the world of mental health: he has impairments that some would consider to be more or less "visible" in a way that should have influenced the way a trial was handled. Meanwhile, the attorney general and the committee seem to have the Texas Supreme Court a little bit on their hands as ... well, we'll cover that directly.
The important part is this: Republican Gov. Abbott of Texas has made a show of backing the attorney general's play, and has done so in a way that makes us privileged observers of this story skeptical about the cover that is being provided for the usurpation of clemency, which is something the executive branch is supposed to handle, and not the legislative.
Roberson was found guilty over 20 years ago, and if the Legislature wanted his testimony, it had enough time to get it. Did the House Committee decide to violate the Separation of Powers because it is now the eleventh hour—only a few days before the session ends—with the Constitution empowering the Governor to make the last move? That is a serious question to consider. Whatever the Committee's reason, it took a perilous path. In an order on Sunday, the court said it was still considering arguments from both sides and set deadlines for the next several weeks.
A judge must set a new execution date at least 90 days in the future, Texas law mandates. The soonest that a new date could be set for John David Roberson, if the appeals process fails, would therefore be in 2024, according to his attorney. A Monday hearing in federal court featured advocates for Roberson and medical experts who challenged the prosecution's case. They said key evidence was missing and that the trial relied on a now-disputed allegation of shaken baby syndrome. One of the witnesses, a former juror, added that the trial failed to mention the father was diagnosed with autism, something that wasn't known until 2018.
The case was reviewed by psychologist Natalie Montfort, who works with adults on the autism spectrum. She testified that Roberson's disability had an enormous impact on his conviction. Montfort stated that much of the evidence presented by the state against Roberson was really just evidence of his autism. She went on to say, "The jury heard witness after witness saying that Mr. Roberson was odd, uncaring, and unemotional when he brought his daughter to the hospital, trying to get her help."
Montfort observed that a nurse testified it was odd for Roberson to have dressed his daughter after she had been injured—in a manner that indicated he was trying to make her presentable—when the right thing to do was go straight to the hospital and let doctors handle everything. This was probably done because Roberson is a very routine-oriented and plan-oriented person. Even in times of crisis, he relies on his established ways of doing things. And what he did with his daughter was, in those terms, plan-oriented. Montfort said that was also true of Roberson's not being overly emotional in front of witnesses. He is someone who isn't capable of the kinds of reactions that were expected of him by those who saw his daughter's body after the event.
Roberson's attorney, Sween, claimed that witness testimonies depicting Roberson as an uncaring father should be regarded as "false testimony" since the witnesses were not aware of his autism. Compton, one of the jurors in Roberson's trial, asserted that the jury's decision was based solely on the evidence presented pertaining to "shaken baby syndrome." Further, Compton testified that had other evidence or explanations been presented, she would have voted for "not guilty," and now believes that Roberson is innocent.
Scheduled for execution last Thursday, Roberson was guilty of the 2002 death of his 2-year-old daughter, Nikki Curtis, who died under circumstances that were later classified as “shaken baby syndrome.” But in a dramatic turn, the Texas Supreme Court last week issued a partial stay of execution that allowed Roberson to live a few more days. The stay came on the heels of an unprecedented action by the Texas House Committee on Criminal Jurisprudence, which subpoenaed Roberson to testify about his case before the committee. Roberson's attorneys have objected to the testimony for reasons of safety and sanity, and have even tried to play up the "gag order" the committee might be using when the Texas House of Representatives is a sunshine-y place that's not supposed to be gagging anyone.
Monday’s hearing featured a group of witnesses that included not only attorneys who had worked on shaken baby cases but also a juror from the trial of the man whose innocence is being contested.
Dr. Phil McGraw, who has interviewed the innocent man in a special show about his case, was also part of the Monday witness lineup. Both the man’s attorney and a clinical psychologist testified that the man’s undiagnosed autism at the time of his trial likely played a significant role in the pretrial and trial processes. The panel of witnesses provided a glimpse of the potential for an alternative to the ruling given by the jury that found the man guilty of first-degree murder.
Roberson faces near-impossible problems when it comes to communication and social interpretation. Lawmaker appearances, for him, translate into seeing for the eyes of authority what has been known for long in the world of mental health: he has impairments that some would consider to be more or less "visible" in a way that should have influenced the way a trial was handled. Meanwhile, the attorney general and the committee seem to have the Texas Supreme Court a little bit on their hands as ... well, we'll cover that directly. The important part is this: Gov. Abbott of Texas has made a show of backing the attorney general's play, and has done so in a way that makes us privileged observers of this story skeptical about the cover that is being provided for the usurpation of clemency, which is something the executive branch is supposed to handle, and not the legislative.
Roberson was found guilty over 20 years ago, and if the Legislature wanted his testimony, it had enough time to get it. Did the House Committee decide to violate the Separation of Powers because it is now the eleventh hour—only a few days before the session ends—with the Constitution empowering the Governor to make the last move? That is a serious question to consider. Whatever the Committee's reason, it took a perilous path. In an order on Sunday, the court said it was still considering arguments from both sides and set deadlines for the next several weeks.
A judge must set a new execution date at least 90 days in the future, Texas law mandates. The soonest that a new date could be set for John David Roberson, if the appeals process fails, would therefore be in 2024, according to his attorney. A Monday hearing in federal court featured advocates for Roberson and medical experts who challenged the prosecution's case. They said key evidence was missing and that the trial relied on a now-disputed allegation of shaken baby syndrome. One of the witnesses, a former juror, added that the trial failed to mention the father was diagnosed with autism, something that wasn't known until 2018.
The case was reviewed by psychologist Natalie Montfort, who works with adults on the autism spectrum. She testified that Roberson's disability had an enormous impact on his conviction. Montfort stated that much of the evidence presented by the state against Roberson was really just evidence of his autism. She went on to say, "The jury heard witness after witness saying that Mr. Roberson was odd, uncaring, and unemotional when he brought his daughter to the hospital, trying to get her help."
Montfort observed that a nurse testified it was odd for Roberson to have dressed his daughter after she had been injured—in a manner that indicated he was trying to make her presentable—when the right thing to do was go straight to the hospital and let doctors handle everything. This was probably done because Roberson is a very routine-oriented and plan-oriented person. Even in times of crisis, he relies on his established ways of doing things. And what he did with his daughter was, in those terms, plan-oriented. Montfort said that was also true of Roberson's not being overly emotional in front of witnesses. He is someone who isn't capable of the kinds of reactions that were expected of him by those who saw his daughter's body after the event.
Roberson's attorney, Sween, claimed that witness testimonies depicting Roberson as an uncaring father should be regarded as "false testimony" since the witnesses were not aware of his autism. Compton, one of the jurors in Roberson's trial, asserted that the jury's decision was based solely on the evidence presented pertaining to "shaken baby syndrome." Further, Compton testified that had other evidence or explanations been presented, she would have voted for "not guilty," and now believes that Roberson is innocent.
Eddie Price
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Autism_Diagnostic_Observation_Schedule
https://witnessdirectory.com/signup.php
