Last fall, an extraordinary legal drama played out in Texas that shook the foundations of the death penalty in a state that still stands for hang-'em-high justice.
Hours before he was scheduled to become the first person in the country to be executed based on evidence of what used to be called "shaken baby syndrome," Texas death row inmate Robert Roberson was granted an unprecedented reprieve when a state House committee subpoenaed him to testify before it.
Roberson did not testify because the committee and the Texas Department of Corrections couldn't agree on the logistics. In November, the Texas Supreme Court ruled that a legislative subpoena couldn't halt the execution. When this issue went to press, a new execution date had not been set for Roberson. But the unusual legislative intervention and the high-stakes fight among the branches of Texas' government showed major, bipartisan doubts about the integrity of the death penalty.
