Last night, Texas death row inmate Robert Roberson narrowly avoided becoming the first person in the country to be executed based on evidence of what was formerly called "shaken baby syndrome," due to an unprecedented intervention by a bipartisan group of Texas lawmakers.
Efforts by Roberson's supporters to halt his imminent execution spilled over into a battle between the branches of the Texas government Thursday night after a state House committee issued a subpoena to Roberson to testify before it next Monday—a highly unusual move that had the practical effect of putting him under the aegis of the legislature's subpoena authority.
