Questions about validity of shaken baby syndrome not enough to give Texas death row inmate new trial, court rules

In a Palestine courtroom in 2018, Robert Roberson listens to his attorney argue for a new trial for the death of his daughter. (Credit: Shelby Knowles for The Texas Tribune)

After years of courtroom scrutiny over the now-questionable science of “shaken baby syndrome,” the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals decided Wednesday that doubt surrounding the cause of his daughter’s death was not enough to overturn Robert Roberson’s death sentence.

Roberson, 56, was convicted of killing his sickly 2-year-old daughter, Nikki Curtis, after he rushed her blue, limp body to the emergency room in 2002. He said that the two were sleeping in their Palestine home when he awoke to find Nikki unresponsive, having fallen off the bed. But doctors and nurses quickly suspected child abuse, disbelieving that such a short fall could have caused the fatal injuries.