What We Know About Robert Roberson—and the Appeals to His Upcoming Execution

By Rebecca Schneid
October 13, 2024 4:17 PM EDT

Robert Roberson is set to be executed by the State of Texas on Thursday, Oct. 17, amid outcry from some lawmakers and advocates who argue that he is innocent.

On Jan. 31, 2002, Roberson brought his 2-year-old daughter, Nikki Curtis, to a hospital in Palestine, Texas. He said she was sick with a high fever and had suffered a fall from bed. Court documents state that at the hospital, she was “not breathing and had a blue color to her skin.” She was then brought to a hospital in Dallas via helicopter, where she was pronounced dead. Hospital staff raised suspicions of abuse, based on Nikki's injuries. It was determined that her injuries were consistent with shaken baby syndrome—a form of child abuse in which a baby is shaken repeatedly, causing their brain to bounce against their skull.

The hospital staff argued that Roberson, despite his daughter’s condition, was lacking emotion. The following day, Feb.1, 2002, Roberson, now 57, was charged with capital murder.

Though shaken baby syndrome has been credited as legitimate by many pediatricians, the American Association of Pediatrics acknowledged in 2020 that it has been “misinterpreted” by some in the legal and medical circles. Roberson’s lawyers argue that the science behind shaken baby syndrome and Roberson’s conviction is inaccurate. 

“It wasn’t a crime committed,” Roberson, 57, told CNN about a week before his scheduled lethal injection. “I was falsely, wrongly convicted of a crime—they said it was a crime, but it wasn’t no crime and stuff because I had a sick little girl, you know?”

Roberson has spent over 20 years on death row. If executed, his attorneys claim it would make him the first person in the United States executed on a shaken baby syndrome-based conviction.

On Oct. 11, Roberson lost one of his final appeals with the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals—an appeal which pointed to recent developments in scrutiny over shaken baby syndrome. In a non-capital case in Dallas County, the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals overturned the conviction of a man on Oct. 9 in a case that also involved a prosecution under the theory of shaken baby syndrome. 

Court records show that Nikki suffered from multiple health problems requiring frequent doctor visits in her young life. A doctor testified that, in the days before her death, Nikki had an upper respiratory infection.

Roberson’s case has received more widespread attention since his execution date was set back in  July. In his corner lies Brian Wharton, a former assistant police chief in Palestine, Texas, who helped put Roberson in prison. Now a minister, Wharton regrets his part in the conviction. 

In a New York Times opinion video, Wharton went to visit Roberson in prison, marking the first time they had seen each other in more than 20 years. 

“He’s never been far from my mind. Why? Because I helped put him here and he didn’t deserve it,” Wharton said.

Wharton went on to say that Nikki was a “very sick child,” and that he believes there could have been multiple other reasons why she died in 2002.

“No other possibilities for her injuries were considered,” he said. “I regret deeply that we followed the easiest path.”

Read More: The Death Penalty Fails America

The 11th-hour appeals for Roberson come less than a month after the tireless efforts from criminal justice reform groups and activists to appeal the execution of death row inmate Marcellus Williams in Missouri amid serious concerns that he may be innocent. Williams was executed on Tuesday, Sept. 24, at 55 years old after the U.S. Supreme Court denied a stay of execution. In the aftermath of his death, there has been widespread condemnation, especially since the execution was not supported by the prosecution nor the victim’s family.

Now, similar groups including The Innocence Project— a nonprofit fighting against wrongful convictions—are appealing to the public to help stall Roberson’s execution by having them call Texas Gov. Greg Abbott. The Innocence Project argues that "symptoms" of Roberson’s autism—which at the time of his daughter's death was undiagnosed—“were used against him.”

In 2018, Abbott commuted the death sentence of Thomas Bartlett Whitaker, following a unanimous decision by the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles. Whitaker now serves a sentence of life in prison without parole. In May, Abbott also pardoned Daniel Perry, a veteran who killed a police brutality protester in 2020.

A bipartisan majority of Texas state legislators in the House are still pushing for Roberson’s execution to be halted. In September, 86 members of the Texas House signed a letter pressing the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles to recommend clemency. They previously halted Roberson’s execution back in 2016.

“We’re barreling towards an execution when a strong bipartisan majority of #txlege reps aren’t even sure a crime occurred—and are very sure due process didn’t,” Rep. Joe Moody of El Paso wrote on X (formerly Twitter) on Oct. 11. “We have to do all we can to pump the brakes before this stains Texas justice for generations.”