The Supreme Court of Texas on Friday paved the way for the potential execution of Robert Roberson, whose planned October 17 execution date for a 2002 murder was postponed at the last minute as a bipartisan group of lawmakers sought his testimony over innocence concerns and faulty science in the case.
Roberson, 57, was sentenced to death in 2003 for the killing of his two-year-old daughter Nikki, with prosecutors attributing the death to “shaken baby syndrome,” a condition that’s since been discredited by medical experts. Roberson maintains his innocence and his execution would mark the first in the U.S. for a killing related to the syndrome since it has been deemed medically unreliable.
