Texas man faces execution after clemency plea fails

Robert Roberson was convicted of sidesplitting his girl and is present acceptable to beryllium archetypal execution successful a shaken babe syndrome case.

Texas is owed to execute a antheral for murdering his two-year-old daughter, contempt doubts astir his guilt.

Robert Roberson is scheduled to person a lethal injection connected Thursday aft Texas’s Board of Pardons and Paroles rejected his plea for clemency.

If the execution proceeds, helium volition beryllium the archetypal idiosyncratic successful the United States to look superior punishment for a execution condemnation linked to the arguable shaken babe syndrome diagnosis.

Roberson has maintained his innocence successful the decease of his daughter, Nikki Curtis, and the pb detective investigating the lawsuit has besides travel to his defence, urging the authorities to telephone disconnected the execution.

Texas’s governor, Greg Abbott, could assistance a one-time 30-day reprieve for Roberson’s acceptable execution, but helium cannot springiness afloat clemency without the committee of parole’s recommendation.

Gretchen Sween, 1 of Roberson’s lawyers, urged the politician to assistance the reprieve “so we tin proceed to prosecute Mr Roberson’s innocence claim”.

“We commune that Governor Abbott does everything successful his powerfulness to forestall the tragic, irreversible mistake of executing an guiltless man,” Sween said.

In his astir 10 years arsenic governor, Abbott has halted lone 1 imminent execution.

‘System failed’

Calls person grown to halt Roberson’s execution owed to questions astir the grounds of his girl suffering shaken babe syndrome, a encephalon wounded caused by shaking oregon convulsive impact.

Roberson’s supporters accidental doctors misdiagnosed Curtis’s injuries arsenic being related to shaken babe syndrome and that caller grounds shows the miss died not from maltreatment but from complications related to terrible pneumonia.

Roberson’s lawyers besides suggest that his autism, which was undiagnosed astatine the clip of his daughter’s death, was utilized against him arsenic authorities grew suspicious due to the fact that of his deficiency of emotion implicit what had happened to his daughter.

One salient dependable that has travel to Roberson’s defence is blimpish activistic Doug Deason, who wrote connected Tuesday successful a station connected X: “I judge helium is innocent”.

Another advocator is the pb detective successful Roberson’s case, Brian Wharton, who has expressed regret for playing a relation successful his conviction.

“Knowing everything that I cognize now, I americium firmly convinced that Robert is an guiltless man,” Wharton said astatine a caller quality league organised by Roberson’s supporters. “The strategy failed Robert.”

The Anderson County District Attorney’s Office, which prosecuted Roberson, has said successful tribunal documents that, aft a 2022 proceeding to see the caller grounds successful the case, a justice rejected the theories that pneumonia and different diseases caused Curtis’s death.

‘Rise successful the complaint of executions’

Roberson is 1 of respective men scheduled to beryllium executed successful the adjacent period successful the US, wherever laws connected superior punishment are decided by idiosyncratic states.

Derrick Ryan Dearman, convicted of murdering 5 radical successful a 2016 location onslaught successful Alabama, volition look lethal injection the aforesaid time arsenic Roberson.

Thomas Eugene Creech, convicted of six murders, including the beating of a chap inmate to decease successful 1981, is acceptable to person a lethal injection connected November 13, immoderate 9 months aft the authorities botched its archetypal attempt to enactment him to death, failing to find a viable vein to present the lethal cause into.

UN quality rights spokesperson Seif Magango issued a connection expressing interest astir the “rise successful the complaint of executions” successful the US, which enactment to decease six radical successful a 12-day model past month.

One of those executed was Emmanuel Littlejohn, who was killed by lethal injection past period contempt a parole committee successful Oklahoma recommending his beingness beryllium spared.

Another man, Marcellus Williams, whose execution condemnation was called into question by a prosecutor, was besides executed by lethal injection successful September.

“We impulse the United States to articulation the increasing planetary statement towards cosmopolitan abolition of the decease punishment – opening by promptly imposing a moratorium connected executions,” said Magango.

Source

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Al Jazeera and quality agencies