Execution scheduled for Texas death row inmate convicted in 'shaken baby' case as lawyers maintain innocence

A Texas man on death row is now scheduled to be put to death in October for his conviction in the death of his -year-old daughter in after his execution was delayed last year amid concerns about whether he is guilty Robert Roberson's new execution date was set for Oct at p m according to Judge Austin Reeve Jackson who commented it's the reality of where we are The new execution date is a year after his initial execution date was paused after a push from a bipartisan group of state lawmakers among others Attorneys for Roberson criticized the judge's ruling arguing that substantial evidence shows he did not kill his daughter Nikki Curtis more than two decades ago in a incident of the shaken baby hypothesis they say has been widely discredited Texans should be outraged that the court has scheduled an execution date for a demonstrably innocent man his attorney Gretchen Sween explained in a announcement to Fox News Digital TEXAS JUDGE GRANTS INJUNCTION AHEAD OF MAN'S EXECUTION IN 'SHAKEN BABY SYNDROME' MATTER Everyone who has taken the time to look at the evidence of Robert Roberson s innocence including the lead detective one of the jurors a range of highly qualified experts and a bipartisan group of Texas lawmakers has reached the same conclusion Nikki s death was a terrible tragedy Robert did not kill her There was no crime she continued More than state lawmakers as well as the detective who helped the prosecution biological experts parental rights groups human rights groups bestselling novelist John Grisham and other advocates have called for the state to grant Roberson clemency over the belief that he is innocent A group of state lawmakers also visited Roberson in prison last year to encourage him Sween revealed she would seek a stay of Roberson s execution so all of the evidence that proves he is innocent can be reviewed by the courts without the pressure of a looming execution date If he is put to death Roberson would be the first person in the U S to be executed in a circumstance based on shaken baby syndrome Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton in the past few days sought the court to schedule Roberson s execution despite the state Court of Criminal Appeals still considering new evidence about his prospective innocence Sween noted TEXAS DEATH ROW INMATE'S LAWYER SAYS 'THERE WAS NO CRIME' AS SHE MAKES LAST-DITCH EFFORT TO SAVE HIS LIFERoberson was convicted after prosecutors argued he killed his daughter by shaking her to death But his lawyers have mentioned Nikki indeed died from other physical condition issues such as pneumonia and that new evidence proves his innocence His lawyers also reported doctors had failed to rule out these other therapeutic explanations for the child's markers I believe he is innocent for two distinct reasons Sween reported Fox News Digital last year The theory that there was a crime that was used to convict him which was then known as the shaken baby syndrome hypothesis has been thoroughly discredited There is no one now who would say the version of that hypothesis that was put before his jury as if it were scientific fact is legitimate Also I know from the experts that had dug into his daughter's health records and examined the evidence that this exceedingly ill child died from undiagnosed pneumonia that was ravaging her lungs combined with very dangerous prescription medications she was given in the last minimal days of her life she continued And it's not to suggest that doctors did this intentionally It's just they didn't know about the pneumonia Roberson was scheduled to be put to death on Oct before the state Supreme Court issued a stay to delay his execution shortly before it was set to take place The state House Committee on Criminal Jurisprudence issued a subpoena the day before Roberson's scheduled execution for him to testify at a hearing about his matter The state Supreme Court paused the execution that night to review the committee's request The court announced in November that the committee should be allowed to hear his testimony as long as a subpoena does not block an inevitable execution Roberson did not appear at subsequent House committee meetings after Paxton's office pushed to prevent him from testifying at the state Capitol