{"id":113968,"date":"2024-10-14T07:59:54","date_gmt":"2024-10-14T00:59:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/?p=113968"},"modified":"2024-10-14T07:59:54","modified_gmt":"2024-10-14T00:59:54","slug":"robert-roberson-shaken-baby-syndrome-may-be-key-in-texas-execution-appeals","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/?p=113968","title":{"rendered":"Robert Roberson: Shaken baby syndrome may be key in Texas execution appeals"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <script async src=\"https:\/\/pagead2.googlesyndication.com\/pagead\/js\/adsbygoogle.js?client=ca-pub-3711241968723425\"\r\n     crossorigin=\"anonymous\"><\/script>\r\n<ins class=\"adsbygoogle\"\r\n     style=\"display:block\"\r\n     data-ad-format=\"fluid\"\r\n     data-ad-layout-key=\"-fb+5w+4e-db+86\"\r\n     data-ad-client=\"ca-pub-3711241968723425\"\r\n     data-ad-slot=\"7910942971\"><\/ins>\r\n<script>\r\n     (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});\r\n<\/script><br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div data-editable=\"content\" itemprop=\"articleBody\" data-reorderable=\"content\">\n<p>\n    <cite class=\"source__cite\"><br \/>\n      <span class=\"source__location\" data-editable=\"location\">West Livingston<\/span><br \/>\n      <span class=\"source__text\" data-editable=\"source\">CNN<\/span><br \/>\n        \u00a0\u2014\u00a0<br \/>\n    <\/cite>\n<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph inline-placeholder vossi-paragraph\" data-uri=\"cms.cnn.com\/_components\/paragraph\/instances\/cm24m6r4j000l9jqgcxhif56y@published\" data-editable=\"text\" data-component-name=\"paragraph\" data-article-gutter=\"true\">\n            Texas this week plans to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cnn.com\/2023\/10\/06\/us\/us-executions-death-penalty-dg\/index.html\">execute<\/a> Robert Roberson, whose attorneys say was wrongfully convicted of murdering his 2-year-old daughter more than 20 years ago.\n    <\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph inline-placeholder vossi-paragraph\" data-uri=\"cms.cnn.com\/_components\/paragraph\/instances\/cm254mhi100043b6me4wi0y54@published\" data-editable=\"text\" data-component-name=\"paragraph\" data-article-gutter=\"true\">\n            His advocates contend Roberson\u2019s sickly toddler, Nikki Curtis, died of double pneumonia that had progressed to sepsis, her illness further exacerbated by a combination of medicines now seen as unsuitable for children.\n    <\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph inline-placeholder vossi-paragraph\" data-uri=\"cms.cnn.com\/_components\/paragraph\/instances\/cm254mhi100053b6mp3yrts2g@published\" data-editable=\"text\" data-component-name=\"paragraph\" data-article-gutter=\"true\">\n            But when Roberson took Nikki to a hospital, doctors and nurses immediately diagnosed her with suspected abuse based on bruises and injuries to Nikki\u2019s head, including severe brain swelling and bleeding in her brain and at the back of her eyes, court documents show.\n    <\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph inline-placeholder vossi-paragraph\" data-uri=\"cms.cnn.com\/_components\/paragraph\/instances\/cm254mhi100063b6mpdkzteru@published\" data-editable=\"text\" data-component-name=\"paragraph\" data-article-gutter=\"true\">\n            The inmate\u2019s attorneys call that a misdiagnosis \u2013 and also discredit shaken baby syndrome on its face, despite <a href=\"https:\/\/www.jpeds.com\/article\/S0022-3476(16)30402-4\/fulltext\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">broad consensus<\/a> among pediatricians it is legitimate.\n    <\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph inline-placeholder vossi-paragraph\" data-uri=\"cms.cnn.com\/_components\/paragraph\/instances\/cm255b3zh002m3b6mtr4g4y15@published\" data-editable=\"text\" data-component-name=\"paragraph\" data-article-gutter=\"true\">\n            The lawyers say, too, Roberson\u2019s behavior in the hospital was misjudged. His strange, \u201cflat\u201d demeanor, then viewed by medical staff and police as evidence of his guilt, was a manifestation of Roberson\u2019s autism, which went undiagnosed until 2018.\n    <\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph inline-placeholder vossi-paragraph\" data-uri=\"cms.cnn.com\/_components\/paragraph\/instances\/cm254mhi100073b6m69yl2ldj@published\" data-editable=\"text\" data-component-name=\"paragraph\" data-article-gutter=\"true\">\n            \u201cIt wasn\u2019t a crime committed,\u201d Roberson, 57, told CNN about a week before his scheduled <a href=\"https:\/\/deathpenaltyinfo.org\/executions\/methods-of-execution\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">lethal injection<\/a>. \u201cI was falsely, wrongly convicted of a crime \u2013 they said it was a crime, but it wasn\u2019t no crime and stuff because I had a sick little girl, you know?\u201d\n    <\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph inline-placeholder vossi-paragraph\" data-uri=\"cms.cnn.com\/_components\/paragraph\/instances\/cm254mhi100083b6m3eu0u1u5@published\" data-editable=\"text\" data-component-name=\"paragraph\" data-article-gutter=\"true\">\n            Still, Texas intends to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cnn.com\/interactive\/2023\/11\/us\/lethal-injection-execution-explained-dg\/\">kill Roberson<\/a> on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.tdcj.texas.gov\/death_row\/dr_scheduled_executions.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Thursday<\/a> in what his attorneys say would make him the first person in the United States executed on a shaken baby syndrome-based conviction as the diagnosis comes under increasing scrutiny in US courts.\n    <\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph inline-placeholder vossi-paragraph\" data-uri=\"cms.cnn.com\/_components\/paragraph\/instances\/cm254mhi100093b6metr9zkkp@published\" data-editable=\"text\" data-component-name=\"paragraph\" data-article-gutter=\"true\">\n            His innocence claim also highlights an inherent risk of capital punishment: a potentially innocent person could be put to<em> <\/em>death. At least 200 people \u2013 18 in Texas \u2013 have been exonerated since 1973 after being convicted and sentenced to die, the <a href=\"https:\/\/deathpenaltyinfo.org\/policy-issues\/innocence\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Death Penalty Information Center<\/a> finds.\n    <\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph inline-placeholder vossi-paragraph\" data-uri=\"cms.cnn.com\/_components\/paragraph\/instances\/cm254mhi1000a3b6mfoahlk53@published\" data-editable=\"text\" data-component-name=\"paragraph\" data-article-gutter=\"true\">\n            Among advocates for Roberson are the Innocence Project, autism advocacy groups concerned about the role his disability may have played in his conviction, a bipartisan group of more than 80 Texas legislators and the famous courtroom thriller author John Grisham.\n    <\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph inline-placeholder vossi-paragraph\" data-uri=\"cms.cnn.com\/_components\/paragraph\/instances\/cm254mhi1000b3b6m5eqh5h5r@published\" data-editable=\"text\" data-component-name=\"paragraph\" data-article-gutter=\"true\">\n            Also in Roberson\u2019s corner is Brian Wharton, a former Palestine, Texas, detective who regrets his part in what he now feels was a too-narrowly focused investigation into Nikki\u2019s death. The shaken baby syndrome diagnosis from doctors and nurses, their emotional response to Nikki\u2019s condition and Roberson\u2019s odd reaction all stacked against the then-suspect, said Wharton.\n    <\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph inline-placeholder vossi-paragraph\" data-uri=\"cms.cnn.com\/_components\/paragraph\/instances\/cm254mhi1000c3b6mssxmeaif@published\" data-editable=\"text\" data-component-name=\"paragraph\" data-article-gutter=\"true\">\n            \u201cThose two things are playing against each other \u2013 the emotional upheaval of the ER staff alongside the father who is just there,\u201d he told CNN. \u201cAnd then when you add to that this accusation of shaken baby syndrome, that affirms for you all the emotions you had in the ER and makes that flat affect much more suspect.\u201d\n    <\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph inline-placeholder vossi-paragraph\" data-uri=\"cms.cnn.com\/_components\/paragraph\/instances\/cm254mhi1000d3b6mjf9eq7jn@published\" data-editable=\"text\" data-component-name=\"paragraph\" data-article-gutter=\"true\">\n            \u201cThe investigative or the suspicious mind takes over and leads the investigation,\u201d he said. \u201cVery early on, Robert was the focus of everything to the exclusion of any other possibilities.\u201d\n    <\/p>\n<div data-uri=\"cms.cnn.com\/_components\/video-resource\/instances\/cm263hn1p000e3b6m8ec6q47t@published\" data-component-name=\"video-resource\" data-editable=\"settings\" class=\"video-resource\" data-fixed-ratio=\"16x9\" data-parent-uri=\"cms.cnn.com\/_components\/video-resource\/instances\/cm261ntr100003b6mkqu8ztcp@published\" data-video-id=\"mee24303cd6bf8e5f6b774fefd3312a7b5b44ce1c2\" data-media-id=\"mee24303cd6bf8e5f6b774fefd3312a7b5b44ce1c2\" data-live=\"\" data-analytics-aggregate-events=\"true\" data-custom-experience=\"\" data-asset-type=\"hlsTs\" data-auth-type=\"none\" data-content-type=\"mediasource-clip\" data-medium-env=\"\" data-autostart=\"disabled\" data-show-ads=\"true\" data-source=\"CNN\" data-featured-video=\"true\" data-headline=\"Texas death row inmate denies shaking daughter to death\" data-has-video-player=\"true\" data-description=\"&lt;p&gt;CNN interviews Robert Roberson, who's set to be executed on Oct. 17 after a jury found him guilty in 2002 of shaking his young daughter to death. His attorneys and advocates argue the science isn't clear that she died from what's known as shaken baby syndrome.\u00a0&lt;\/p&gt;\" data-duration=\"02:30\" data-source-html=\"&lt;span class=&quot;video-resource__source&quot;&gt; - Source:&#10;                &lt;a href=&quot;https:\/\/www.cnn.com\/&quot; class=&quot;video-resource__source-url&quot;&gt;CNN&lt;\/a&gt;&#10;    &lt;\/span&gt;\" data-fave-thumbnails=\"{&quot;big&quot;: { &quot;uri&quot;: &quot;https:\/\/media.cnn.com\/api\/v1\/images\/stellar\/prod\/still-21036210-82290-333-still.jpg?c=16x9&amp;q=h_540,w_960,c_fill&quot; }, &quot;small&quot;: { &quot;uri&quot;: &quot;https:\/\/media.cnn.com\/api\/v1\/images\/stellar\/prod\/still-21036210-82290-333-still.jpg?c=16x9&amp;q=h_540,w_960,c_fill&quot; }  }\" data-vr-video=\"false\" data-show-html=\"&lt;!-- unable to render partial show without a supplied context --&gt;\" data-byline-html=\"&lt;div data-uri=&quot;cms.cnn.com\/_components\/byline\/instances\/cm261nu7j00043b6m577w4j86@published&quot; class=&quot;byline&quot; data-editable=&quot;settings&quot;&gt;&#10;&#9;&#9;&lt;div class=&quot;byline__images&quot;&gt;&#10;                    &lt;a class=&quot;byline__image-link&quot; href=&quot;https:\/\/www.cnn.com\/profiles\/ed-lavandera-profile&quot;&gt;&#10;                    &lt;img height=&quot;100&quot; width=&quot;100&quot; class=&quot;byline__image&quot; src=&quot;https:\/\/media.cnn.com\/api\/v1\/images\/stellar\/prod\/140926161905-ed-lavandera-profile-image.jpg?c=16x9&amp;q=h_270,w_480,c_fill\/c_thumb,g_face,w_100,h_100&quot; alt=&quot;Ed Lavandera&quot; onerror=&quot;imageLoadError(this)&quot;\/&gt;&#10;                    &lt;\/a&gt;&#10;&#9;&#9;&lt;\/div&gt;&#10;&#9;&#9;&lt;div class=&quot;byline__names&quot;&gt;&#10;&#9;&#9;&#9;By &lt;a class=&quot;byline__link&quot; href=https:\/\/www.cnn.com\/profiles\/ed-lavandera-profile&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;byline__name&quot;&gt;Ed Lavandera&lt;\/span&gt;&lt;\/a&gt;, CNN&#10;&#9;&#9;&lt;\/div&gt;&#10;&lt;\/div&gt;\" data-timestamp-html=\"&lt;div&#10;  class=&quot;timestamp vossi-timestamp&quot;&#10;  data-uri=&quot;cms.cnn.com\/_components\/timestamp\/instances\/cm261ntvo00013b6m8egeom05@published&quot;&#10;  data-editable=&quot;settings&quot;&#10;&gt;&#10;  Updated&#10;        6:35 PM EDT, Sun October 13, 2024&#10;    &lt;\/div&gt;\" data-check-event-based-preview=\"\" data-is-vertical-video-embed=\"false\" data-network-id=\"\" data-publish-date=\"2024-10-12T11:44:46.032Z\" data-video-section=\"us\" data-canonical-url=\"\" data-branding-key=\"\" data-video-slug=\"texas-death-row-inmate-lavandera-digvid\" data-first-publish-slug=\"texas-death-row-inmate-lavandera-digvid\" data-video-tags=\"\" data-details=\"\">\n<div data-uri=\"cms.cnn.com\/_components\/video-player\/instances\/cm261nuf100063b6mshizv9mh@published\" data-unselectable=\"true\" data-title=\"\" data-show-ads=\"true\" data-is-vertical-video-embed=\"false\" data-custom-experience=\"\" data-component-name=\"video-player\" data-autostart=\"disabled\" data-is-vertical-video=\"false\" data-fixed-ratio=\"16x9\" data-headline=\"Texas death row inmate denies shaking daughter to death\" data-auth-type=\"none\" data-video-resource-parent-uri=\"cms.cnn.com\/_components\/video-resource\/instances\/cm261ntr100003b6mkqu8ztcp@published\" data-live=\"\" data-content-type=\"mediasource-clip\" data-video-resource-uri=\"cms.cnn.com\/_components\/video-resource\/instances\/cm263hn1p000e3b6m8ec6q47t@published\" data-poster-image-override=\"{&quot;big&quot;: { &quot;uri&quot;: &quot;https:\/\/media.cnn.com\/api\/v1\/images\/stellar\/prod\/still-21036210-82290-333-still.jpg?c=16x9&amp;q=h_540,w_960,c_fill&quot; }, &quot;small&quot;: { &quot;uri&quot;: &quot;https:\/\/media.cnn.com\/api\/v1\/images\/stellar\/prod\/still-21036210-82290-333-still.jpg?c=16x9&amp;q=h_540,w_960,c_fill&quot; }  }\" data-video-id=\"mee24303cd6bf8e5f6b774fefd3312a7b5b44ce1c2\" data-media-id=\"mee24303cd6bf8e5f6b774fefd3312a7b5b44ce1c2\" data-duration=\"02:30\" data-description=\"&lt;p&gt;CNN interviews Robert Roberson, who's set to be executed on Oct. 17 after a jury found him guilty in 2002 of shaking his young daughter to death. His attorneys and advocates argue the science isn't clear that she died from what's known as shaken baby syndrome.\u00a0&lt;\/p&gt;\" data-check-event-based-preview=\"\" data-network-id=\"\" data-publish-date=\"2024-10-12T11:44:46.032Z\" data-video-section=\"us\" data-canonical-url=\"\" data-branding-key=\"\" data-video-slug=\"texas-death-row-inmate-lavandera-digvid\" data-first-publish-slug=\"texas-death-row-inmate-lavandera-digvid\" data-video-tags=\"\" class=\"video-resource\">\n<div id=\"player-cms.cnn.com\/_components\/video-player\/instances\/cm261nuf100063b6mshizv9mh@published\" class=\"video-resource__wrapper\">\n<div class=\"video-resource__image\">\n<div data-uri=\"cms.cnn.com\/_components\/image\/instances\/cm261ntz300023b6mrgntrz4w@published\" class=\"image image__hide-placeholder\" data-image-variation=\"image\" data-name=\"still_21036210_82290.333_still.jpg\" data-component-name=\"image\" data-observe-resizes=\"\" data-breakpoints=\"{\" image--eq-extra-small=\"\" data-original-ratio=\"0.5625\" data-original-height=\"1080\" data-original-width=\"1920\" data-url=\"https:\/\/media.cnn.com\/api\/v1\/images\/stellar\/prod\/still-21036210-82290-333-still.jpg?c=original\" data-unselectable=\"true\">\n<div class=\"image__container \" data-image-variation=\"image\" data-breakpoints=\"{\" image--eq-extra-small=\"\">\n       <picture class=\"image__picture\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/media.cnn.com\/api\/v1\/images\/stellar\/prod\/still-21036210-82290-333-still.jpg?c=16x9&amp;q=w_1280,c_fill\" alt=\"still_21036210_82290.333_still.jpg\" class=\"image__dam-img image__dam-img--loading\" onload=\"this.classList.remove('image__dam-img--loading')\" onerror=\"imageLoadError(this)\" height=\"1080\" width=\"1920\"\/><\/picture>\n    <\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"video-resource__details\">\n<p>Texas death row inmate denies shaking daughter to death\n                <\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"paragraph inline-placeholder vossi-paragraph\" data-uri=\"cms.cnn.com\/_components\/paragraph\/instances\/cm254mhi1000f3b6mz67q4x47@published\" data-editable=\"text\" data-component-name=\"paragraph\" data-article-gutter=\"true\">\n            Roberson\u2019s attorneys are not disputing that babies can and do die from being shaken. But they contend that more benign explanations, including illness, can mimic the symptoms of shaking, and those alternative explanations should be ruled out before a medical expert testifies to a certainty that the cause of death was abuse.\n    <\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph inline-placeholder vossi-paragraph\" data-uri=\"cms.cnn.com\/_components\/paragraph\/instances\/cm2854wtr00103b6meerw2ymz@published\" data-editable=\"text\" data-component-name=\"paragraph\" data-article-gutter=\"true\">\n            Shaken baby syndrome is accepted as a <a href=\"https:\/\/publications.aap.org\/aapnews\/news\/8666\/Despite-Media-Reports-Most-Doctors-Don-t-Dispute\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">valid diagnosis<\/a> by the <a href=\"https:\/\/publications.aap.org\/pediatrics\/article\/145\/4\/e20200203\/36936\/Abusive-Head-Trauma-in-Infants-and-Children\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">American Academy of Pediatrics<\/a> and supported by child abuse pediatricians who spoke with CNN. The condition, first described <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/pmc\/articles\/PMC1757926\/#:~:text=Subdural%20and%20retinal%20haemorrhages%20are,of%20subdural%20haemorrhage%20in%20infants.\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">in the mid-1970s,<\/a> has for the past 15 or so years been considered a type of \u201cabusive head trauma\u201d \u2013 a broader term used to reflect actions other than shaking, like an impact to a child\u2019s head.\n    <\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph inline-placeholder vossi-paragraph\" data-uri=\"cms.cnn.com\/_components\/paragraph\/instances\/cm254mhi1000g3b6m0durm9j0@published\" data-editable=\"text\" data-component-name=\"paragraph\" data-article-gutter=\"true\">\n            Abusive head trauma generally occurs when a frustrated parent or caregiver violently shakes a child and\/or causes a blunt impact injury, the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cdc.gov\/child-abuse-neglect\/about\/about-abusive-head-trauma.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention<\/a> and others say. It is the leading cause of child abuse deaths in children under age 5, the CDC says.\n    <\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph inline-placeholder vossi-paragraph\" data-uri=\"cms.cnn.com\/_components\/paragraph\/instances\/cm254mhi1000h3b6mb2sop0jc@published\" data-editable=\"text\" data-component-name=\"paragraph\" data-article-gutter=\"true\">\n            \u201cThere really is not a controversy in medicine about the existence of abusive head trauma. The science behind it is really quite clear,\u201d former American Academy of Pediatrics President Dr. Lee Savio Beers told CNN for <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cnn.com\/interactive\/2021\/12\/health\/shaken-baby-syndrome-legal-battle\/chapter-2.html\">a 2021 report<\/a> on how abusive head trauma cases are not coming to trial due to unsubstantiated defense claims.\n    <\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph inline-placeholder vossi-paragraph\" data-uri=\"cms.cnn.com\/_components\/paragraph\/instances\/cm254mhi1000i3b6mxsx1cchh@published\" data-editable=\"text\" data-component-name=\"paragraph\" data-article-gutter=\"true\">\n            However, the decision around 2009 to refer to what had been known as shaken baby syndrome as abusive head trauma was \u201cmisinterpreted\u201d by some in legal and medical circles as an indication of \u201cdoubt in\u201d or \u201cinvalidation\u201d of the diagnosis of the injury itself, <a href=\"https:\/\/publications.aap.org\/pediatrics\/article\/145\/4\/e20200203\/36936\/Abusive-Head-Trauma-in-Infants-and-Children?autologincheck=redirected\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">the American Association of Pediatrics<\/a> acknowledged in 2020. The group \u201ccontinues to affirm the dangers and harms of shaking infants, continues to embrace the \u2018shaken baby syndrome\u2019 diagnosis as a valid subset of the (abusive head trauma) diagnosis, and encourages pediatric practitioners to educate community stakeholders when necessary,\u201d it added.\n    <\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph inline-placeholder vossi-paragraph\" data-uri=\"cms.cnn.com\/_components\/paragraph\/instances\/cm254mhi1000j3b6m7db9d2jn@published\" data-editable=\"text\" data-component-name=\"paragraph\" data-article-gutter=\"true\">\n            Criminal defense lawyers also have oversimplified how doctors diagnose abusive head trauma, child abuse pediatricians say, noting many factors are considered to determine it.\n    <\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph inline-placeholder vossi-paragraph\" data-uri=\"cms.cnn.com\/_components\/paragraph\/instances\/cm261j49q00003b6m88s90kla@published\" data-editable=\"text\" data-component-name=\"paragraph\" data-article-gutter=\"true\">\n            The landscape has fueled a fierce debate now playing out at the intersection of medicine and the law \u2013 with Roberson\u2019s case at center stage this week.\n    <\/p>\n<div data-uri=\"cms.cnn.com\/_components\/image\/instances\/cm255c3bc00083b6m5zlsoc1y@published\" class=\"image image__hide-placeholder\" data-image-variation=\"image\" data-name=\"AP24277769868040.jpg\" data-component-name=\"image\" data-observe-resizes=\"\" data-breakpoints=\"{\" image--eq-extra-small=\"\" data-original-ratio=\"0.6666666666666666\" data-original-height=\"1218\" data-original-width=\"1827\" data-url=\"https:\/\/media.cnn.com\/api\/v1\/images\/stellar\/prod\/ap24277769868040.jpg?c=original\" data-editable=\"settings\">\n<div class=\"image__container \" data-image-variation=\"image\" data-breakpoints=\"{\" image--eq-extra-small=\"\">\n       <picture class=\"image__picture\"><source height=\"1218\" width=\"1827\" media=\"(min-width: 1280px)\" srcset=\"https:\/\/media.cnn.com\/api\/v1\/images\/stellar\/prod\/ap24277769868040.jpg?q=w_1110,c_fill\/f_webp\" type=\"image\/webp\"><source height=\"1218\" width=\"1827\" media=\"(min-width: 960px)\" srcset=\"https:\/\/media.cnn.com\/api\/v1\/images\/stellar\/prod\/ap24277769868040.jpg?q=w_1015,c_fill\/f_webp\" type=\"image\/webp\"><source height=\"1218\" width=\"1827\" media=\"(min-width: 480px)\" srcset=\"https:\/\/media.cnn.com\/api\/v1\/images\/stellar\/prod\/ap24277769868040.jpg?q=w_1160,c_fill\/f_webp\" type=\"image\/webp\"><source height=\"1218\" width=\"1827\" media=\"(max-width: 479px)\" srcset=\"https:\/\/media.cnn.com\/api\/v1\/images\/stellar\/prod\/ap24277769868040.jpg?q=w_680,c_fill\/f_webp\" type=\"image\/webp\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/media.cnn.com\/api\/v1\/images\/stellar\/prod\/ap24277769868040.jpg?q=w_1110,c_fill\" alt=\"Texas lawmakers meet with Robert Roberson on September 27 at a prison in Livingston, Texas.\" class=\"image__dam-img image__dam-img--loading\" onload=\"this.classList.remove('image__dam-img--loading')\" onerror=\"imageLoadError(this)\" height=\"1218\" width=\"1827\" loading=\"lazy\"\/><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture>\n    <\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"paragraph inline-placeholder vossi-paragraph\" data-uri=\"cms.cnn.com\/_components\/paragraph\/instances\/cm254mhi1000l3b6m7gb8chev@published\" data-editable=\"text\" data-component-name=\"paragraph\" data-article-gutter=\"true\">\n            \u201cThe conclusion is simply (Nikki) was a victim of abusive head trauma. Unequivocally,\u201d Dr. Sandeep Narang, a child abuse pediatrician and a lawyer, said Tuesday after he was asked by a supporter of Roberson\u2019s defense to review trial testimony in the case.\n    <\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph inline-placeholder vossi-paragraph\" data-uri=\"cms.cnn.com\/_components\/paragraph\/instances\/cm254mhi1000m3b6mwlj490un@published\" data-editable=\"text\" data-component-name=\"paragraph\" data-article-gutter=\"true\">\n            \u201cI thought there (was a) reasonable basis, clear, reasonable basis to find this conviction,\u201d Narang told CNN. \u201cAnd I thought this case represented a high probability of abusive head trauma, given all the total findings in this case.\u201d\n    <\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph inline-placeholder vossi-paragraph\" data-uri=\"cms.cnn.com\/_components\/paragraph\/instances\/cm254mhi1000n3b6myrfbc2so@published\" data-editable=\"text\" data-component-name=\"paragraph\" data-article-gutter=\"true\">\n            Meanwhile, courts in at least 17 states and the US Army since 1992 have exonerated 32 people convicted in shaken baby syndrome cases, according to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.law.umich.edu\/special\/exoneration\/Pages\/detaillist.aspx\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">the National Registry of Exonerations<\/a>.\n    <\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph inline-placeholder vossi-paragraph\" data-uri=\"cms.cnn.com\/_components\/paragraph\/instances\/cm254mhi1000o3b6mer44hr0n@published\" data-editable=\"text\" data-component-name=\"paragraph\" data-article-gutter=\"true\">\n            Just this month, the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals <a href=\"https:\/\/search.txcourts.gov\/SearchMedia.aspx?MediaVersionID=f35c0a11-0709-49ea-9231-b6712f2ef521&amp;coa=coscca&amp;DT=OPINION&amp;MediaID=f93d9408-29a1-4727-b96f-4904bc4e47de\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">ordered<\/a> a new trial for a man sentenced to 35 years in prison after being convicted of injury to a child in a case that also relied on a shaken baby syndrome argument. In its ruling, the court wrote \u201cscientific knowledge has evolved regarding SBS.\u201d\n    <\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph inline-placeholder vossi-paragraph\" data-uri=\"cms.cnn.com\/_components\/paragraph\/instances\/cm254mhi1000p3b6m0plo861j@published\" data-editable=\"text\" data-component-name=\"paragraph\" data-article-gutter=\"true\">\n            While Roberson\u2019s conviction has been upheld on appeal, his attorneys continue to pursue that remedy. They\u2019re due Tuesday in court to argue yet another aspect of Roberson\u2019s case, they say, claiming the judge who scheduled his execution did not have appropriate jurisdiction and so the death warrant should be void.\n    <\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph inline-placeholder vossi-paragraph\" data-uri=\"cms.cnn.com\/_components\/paragraph\/instances\/cm254mhi1000q3b6mmsxgbrqr@published\" data-editable=\"text\" data-component-name=\"paragraph\" data-article-gutter=\"true\">\n            They\u2019ve also petitioned the Texas Pardons and Parole Board and Republican Gov. Greg Abbott for clemency, asking for Roberson\u2019s punishment to be commuted to a lesser sentence or he be granted a 180-day reprieve to allow time for his appeals to be argued in court.\n    <\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph inline-placeholder vossi-paragraph\" data-uri=\"cms.cnn.com\/_components\/paragraph\/instances\/cm254mhi1000r3b6muv9zypld@published\" data-editable=\"text\" data-component-name=\"paragraph\" data-article-gutter=\"true\">\n            The Anderson County District Attorney did not respond to CNN\u2019s requests for an interview.\n    <\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph inline-placeholder vossi-paragraph\" data-uri=\"cms.cnn.com\/_components\/paragraph\/instances\/cm254mhi1000t3b6m3d26cjub@published\" data-editable=\"text\" data-component-name=\"paragraph\" data-article-gutter=\"true\">\n            Roberson was charged with capital murder on February 1, 2002, one day after he took Nikki to a hospital in Palestine, Texas. She wasn\u2019t breathing, and her skin was blue.\n    <\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph inline-placeholder vossi-paragraph\" data-uri=\"cms.cnn.com\/_components\/paragraph\/instances\/cm254mhi1000u3b6m4qfrzz46@published\" data-editable=\"text\" data-component-name=\"paragraph\" data-article-gutter=\"true\">\n            Due to Nikki\u2019s injuries, medical personnel were soon suspicious, and a nurse called police. Nikki, meanwhile, was flown via helicopter to a children\u2019s hospital in Dallas, where she was later taken off life support and died.\n    <\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph inline-placeholder vossi-paragraph\" data-uri=\"cms.cnn.com\/_components\/paragraph\/instances\/cm254mhi1000v3b6m50ax7z43@published\" data-editable=\"text\" data-component-name=\"paragraph\" data-article-gutter=\"true\">\n            Roberson, who has three other children, had gotten custody of Nikki just two months earlier. He had learned of her only after her birth, and she spent most of her life in the custody of her maternal grandparents, who eventually agreed Roberson should have custody, court records show.\n    <\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph inline-placeholder vossi-paragraph\" data-uri=\"cms.cnn.com\/_components\/paragraph\/instances\/cm254mhi1000w3b6mbvza6ezo@published\" data-editable=\"text\" data-component-name=\"paragraph\" data-article-gutter=\"true\">\n            Roberson told investigators he had picked the toddler up on January 30, 2002, from her maternal grandparents\u2019 house, taken her home, put on a movie and gone to sleep in the same bed as her, the complaint against him says. They were alone.\n    <\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph inline-placeholder vossi-paragraph\" data-uri=\"cms.cnn.com\/_components\/paragraph\/instances\/cm254mhi1000x3b6mvv9cdrtd@published\" data-editable=\"text\" data-component-name=\"paragraph\" data-article-gutter=\"true\">\n            Roberson says he woke in the night to Nikki\u2019s cries and found she had fallen 1 to 2 feet off the bed to the floor. He saw blood on her lips and a bruise under her chin, he told police per the complaint, and wiped the blood away with a washcloth. He kept her up for two hours to make sure she was OK, he said, and they eventually fell back asleep. When Roberson got up in the morning, Nikki was unresponsive, he said.\n    <\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph inline-placeholder vossi-paragraph\" data-uri=\"cms.cnn.com\/_components\/paragraph\/instances\/cm254mhi1000y3b6m5z5b3rk3@published\" data-editable=\"text\" data-component-name=\"paragraph\" data-article-gutter=\"true\">\n            \u201cI carried her to the hospital and stuff, you know,\u201d he told CNN last week. \u201cI didn\u2019t have nothing to hide.\u201d\n    <\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph inline-placeholder vossi-paragraph\" data-uri=\"cms.cnn.com\/_components\/paragraph\/instances\/cm254mhi1000z3b6m1le0v812@published\" data-editable=\"text\" data-component-name=\"paragraph\" data-article-gutter=\"true\">\n            A pediatrician specializing in child maltreatment at the hospital in Dallas told police Nikki was a victim of abuse. The girl\u2019s injuries were \u201cindicative of a shaken impact syndrome,\u201d Dr. Janet Squires wrote in an affidavit. The Dallas County medical examiner who performed Nikki\u2019s autopsy determined she died of blunt force head injuries and ruled the manner of death a homicide.\n    <\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph inline-placeholder vossi-paragraph\" data-uri=\"cms.cnn.com\/_components\/paragraph\/instances\/cm254mhi100103b6mmanowmao@published\" data-editable=\"text\" data-component-name=\"paragraph\" data-article-gutter=\"true\">\n            At trial, the state called 12 witnesses, court records show. They included Squires, who testified CT scans showed Nikki\u2019s brain was swollen and there was blood under her skull and behind her eyes. The injuries, Squires said, could not have been explained by a \u201csimple impact,\u201d dismissing Roberson\u2019s explanation about the girl\u2019s fall off the bed.\n    <\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph inline-placeholder vossi-paragraph\" data-uri=\"cms.cnn.com\/_components\/paragraph\/instances\/cm254mhi100113b6moyf8ei7a@published\" data-editable=\"text\" data-component-name=\"paragraph\" data-article-gutter=\"true\">\n            \u201cIt\u2019s a very violent forceful act,\u201d she said of the shaking that would have caused Nikki\u2019s injuries, noting it was rare for shaken baby syndrome to be diagnosed after a single, isolated instance and more likely to follow a pattern of abuse. Squires did not find evidence of old injuries, such as fractures or blood, she testified; she was not asked nor did she address whether such a pattern of abuse may have been a factor in Nikki\u2019s case.\n    <\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph inline-placeholder vossi-paragraph\" data-uri=\"cms.cnn.com\/_components\/paragraph\/instances\/cm254mhi100123b6mb1sj79r0@published\" data-editable=\"text\" data-component-name=\"paragraph\" data-article-gutter=\"true\">\n            \u201cIt is not something that ever happens accidentally,\u201d Squires testified. She did not respond to CNN\u2019s requests in early October for an interview.\n    <\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph inline-placeholder vossi-paragraph\" data-uri=\"cms.cnn.com\/_components\/paragraph\/instances\/cm254mhi100133b6ms7z6vp7e@published\" data-editable=\"text\" data-component-name=\"paragraph\" data-article-gutter=\"true\">\n            Narang, the child abuse pediatrician and lawyer, further pointed to trial testimony of the 11-year-old niece and 10-year-old daughter of Roberson\u2019s then-girlfriend, both of whom said they had seen him shake Nikki on previous occasions \u2013 and the girlfriend\u2019s claim Roberson waited to take Nikki to the hospital.\n    <\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph inline-placeholder vossi-paragraph\" data-uri=\"cms.cnn.com\/_components\/paragraph\/instances\/cm254mhi100143b6mvrd5nxlp@published\" data-editable=\"text\" data-component-name=\"paragraph\" data-article-gutter=\"true\">\n            Roberson has denied the girls had seen him shake Nikki and attributed the delay to his being in a state of shock and dressing Nikki before taking her for help.\n    <\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph inline-placeholder vossi-paragraph\" data-uri=\"cms.cnn.com\/_components\/paragraph\/instances\/cm254mhi100153b6mtywppxbv@published\" data-editable=\"text\" data-component-name=\"paragraph\" data-article-gutter=\"true\">\n            \u201cI couldn\u2019t be specific in telling you whether it was the child\u2019s head impacting another object or surface or whether it was the defendant\u2019s hand or leg or something else hitting the child\u2019s head,\u201d added Narang, who reviewed the case in light of today\u2019s science. \u201cBut there were signs of impact about this child\u2019s head in multiple different locations.\u201d\n    <\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph inline-placeholder vossi-paragraph\" data-uri=\"cms.cnn.com\/_components\/paragraph\/instances\/cm254mhi100163b6mlhb3a923@published\" data-editable=\"text\" data-component-name=\"paragraph\" data-article-gutter=\"true\">\n            Nikki\u2019s maternal grandfather, Larry Bowman, declined to comment to CNN except to say, \u201cWe don\u2019t want nothing to do with it. We have left it up to the Lord and the law.\u201d\n    <\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph inline-placeholder vossi-paragraph\" data-uri=\"cms.cnn.com\/_components\/paragraph\/instances\/cm254mhi100183b6m358yxics@published\" data-editable=\"text\" data-component-name=\"paragraph\" data-article-gutter=\"true\">\n            Roberson\u2019s attorneys have disputed the idea Nikki was a victim of shaken baby syndrome, pointing in part to a 2001 report by the American Academy of Pediatrics they say unfairly skewed how Nikki\u2019s doctors viewed the situation: \u201cAlthough physical abuse in the past has been a diagnosis of exclusion,\u201d it reads in part, \u201cdata regarding the nature and frequency of head trauma consistently support the need for a presumption of child abuse when a child younger than 1 year has suffered an intracranial injury.\u201d\n    <\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph inline-placeholder vossi-paragraph\" data-uri=\"cms.cnn.com\/_components\/paragraph\/instances\/cm254mhi100193b6msw2s8i4o@published\" data-editable=\"text\" data-component-name=\"paragraph\" data-article-gutter=\"true\">\n            According to Roberson\u2019s advocates, this \u201cpresumption\u201d language led the doctors treating Nikki to conclude Roberson had abused her without considering other possibilities.\n    <\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph inline-placeholder vossi-paragraph\" data-uri=\"cms.cnn.com\/_components\/paragraph\/instances\/cm254mhi1001a3b6mjjn97nl8@published\" data-editable=\"text\" data-component-name=\"paragraph\" data-article-gutter=\"true\">\n            There are other explanations, too, Roberson\u2019s attorneys claim, for why the toddler was hurt.\n    <\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph inline-placeholder vossi-paragraph\" data-uri=\"cms.cnn.com\/_components\/paragraph\/instances\/cm254mhi1001b3b6mf59zgsgx@published\" data-editable=\"text\" data-component-name=\"paragraph\" data-article-gutter=\"true\">\n            Nikki \u2013 who was plagued with health problems requiring frequent doctor visits in her young life, court records show \u2013 was fighting an upper respiratory infection in the days before her death. Two days earlier, she had visited the emergency room with a 104.5-degree fever, court records show.\n    <\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph inline-placeholder vossi-paragraph\" data-uri=\"cms.cnn.com\/_components\/paragraph\/instances\/cm254mhi1001c3b6momk6vi89@published\" data-editable=\"text\" data-component-name=\"paragraph\" data-article-gutter=\"true\">\n            Nikki was also prescribed both promethazine and codeine. Both would have further hindered her ability to breathe, Roberson\u2019s team contends, causing hypoxia, which they claim can cause the brain to swell and the same bleeding beneath the skull. Those medications are now seen as inappropriate for someone Nikki\u2019s age and in her condition, Roberson\u2019s attorneys say.\n    <\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph inline-placeholder vossi-paragraph\" data-uri=\"cms.cnn.com\/_components\/paragraph\/instances\/cm254mhi1001d3b6mr543oiea@published\" data-editable=\"text\" data-component-name=\"paragraph\" data-article-gutter=\"true\">\n            Taken together, the illness, her prescriptions and her alleged fall off the bed would explain Nikki\u2019s symptoms, Roberson\u2019s proponents claim.\n    <\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph inline-placeholder vossi-paragraph\" data-uri=\"cms.cnn.com\/_components\/paragraph\/instances\/cm254mhi1001f3b6mbjofeybv@published\" data-editable=\"text\" data-component-name=\"paragraph\" data-article-gutter=\"true\">\n            Driving home the lack of unanimity within medical and scientific circles over abusive head trauma is a letter included with Roberson\u2019s clemency petition from 34 scientists and doctors across disciplines and institutions who voice support for the arguments of the inmate\u2019s attorneys.\n    <\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph inline-placeholder vossi-paragraph\" data-uri=\"cms.cnn.com\/_components\/paragraph\/instances\/cm254mhi1001g3b6mhbhw8v6i@published\" data-editable=\"text\" data-component-name=\"paragraph\" data-article-gutter=\"true\">\n            Another group that has taken up his innocence claim \u2013 the Center for Integrity in Forensic Sciences \u2013 also raised this issue in a June <a href=\"https:\/\/www.supremecourt.gov\/search.aspx?filename=\/docket\/docketfiles\/html\/public\/22-7546.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">filing in the case<\/a> to the US Supreme Court:\n    <\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph inline-placeholder vossi-paragraph\" data-uri=\"cms.cnn.com\/_components\/paragraph\/instances\/cm254mhi1001h3b6mlpcl0taq@published\" data-editable=\"text\" data-component-name=\"paragraph\" data-article-gutter=\"true\">\n            \u201cIt is an expert\u2019s opinion, not simply objective fact, that leads to the accusation and often to the conviction in a case involving an allegation of shaken baby syndrome,\u201d Kate Judson, the center\u2019s executive director, said last month at a news conference.\n    <\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph inline-placeholder vossi-paragraph\" data-uri=\"cms.cnn.com\/_components\/paragraph\/instances\/cm254mhi1001i3b6mvbr60owa@published\" data-editable=\"text\" data-component-name=\"paragraph\" data-article-gutter=\"true\">\n            \u201cThe physician is the one who decides that there was a crime, who committed the crime, and testifies about the person\u2019s mental state,\u201d she said. \u201cThere really aren\u2019t other parallels in the law where we allow that, and it\u2019s allowed here.\u201d\n    <\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph inline-placeholder vossi-paragraph\" data-uri=\"cms.cnn.com\/_components\/paragraph\/instances\/cm254mhi1001j3b6mr0a7ubdw@published\" data-editable=\"text\" data-component-name=\"paragraph\" data-article-gutter=\"true\">\n            However, the chair of the American Academy of Pediatrics\u2019 Council on Child Abuse and Neglect asserted without caveat: Abusive head trauma \u201cis real.\u201d\n    <\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph inline-placeholder vossi-paragraph\" data-uri=\"cms.cnn.com\/_components\/paragraph\/instances\/cm254mhi1001k3b6mwef2m99e@published\" data-editable=\"text\" data-component-name=\"paragraph\" data-article-gutter=\"true\">\n            \u201cI don\u2019t know what to say about the legal controversy,\u201d Dr. Antoinette Laskey told CNN. \u201cThis is real, it affects children, it affects families \u2026 I want to help children; I don\u2019t want to diagnose abuse: That\u2019s a bad day.\u201d\n    <\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph inline-placeholder vossi-paragraph\" data-uri=\"cms.cnn.com\/_components\/paragraph\/instances\/cm254mhi1001l3b6mm7o4l5g8@published\" data-editable=\"text\" data-component-name=\"paragraph\" data-article-gutter=\"true\">\n            As to claims of exonerations in shaken baby syndrome cases, Laskey pointed to <a href=\"https:\/\/pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/34743053\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">a 2021 paper authored<\/a> by Narang and others that found just 3% of all such convictions between 2008 and 2018 were overturned, and only 1% of them were overturned because of medical evidence.\n    <\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph inline-placeholder vossi-paragraph\" data-uri=\"cms.cnn.com\/_components\/paragraph\/instances\/cm254mhi1001m3b6m1lue0itn@published\" data-editable=\"text\" data-component-name=\"paragraph\" data-article-gutter=\"true\">\n            Indeed, the only time abusive head trauma is referred to as \u201cjunk science\u201d is \u201cin the legal arena,\u201d said Laskey, who was not familiar with Roberson\u2019s case and did not speak to it.\n    <\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph inline-placeholder vossi-paragraph\" data-uri=\"cms.cnn.com\/_components\/paragraph\/instances\/cm254mhi1001n3b6mhayoqgub@published\" data-editable=\"text\" data-component-name=\"paragraph\" data-article-gutter=\"true\">\n            \u201cThere\u2019s no controversy in the medical field that takes care of children,\u201d she said, struggling with the idea families impacted by abusive head trauma \u2013 whose children had been injured or killed \u2013 would be told \u201ctheir reality is not reality.\u201d\n    <\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph inline-placeholder vossi-paragraph\" data-uri=\"cms.cnn.com\/_components\/paragraph\/instances\/cm254mhi1001p3b6mmy88g8dj@published\" data-editable=\"text\" data-component-name=\"paragraph\" data-article-gutter=\"true\">\n            As the days tick down, Roberson is \u201ctrying to keep hope alive, each and every day\u201d that he\u2019ll eventually leave death row. He would get a job, he told CNN, and would like to attend ministry school.\n    <\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph inline-placeholder vossi-paragraph\" data-uri=\"cms.cnn.com\/_components\/paragraph\/instances\/cm254mhi1001q3b6mw685rx48@published\" data-editable=\"text\" data-component-name=\"paragraph\" data-article-gutter=\"true\">\n            And he\u2019d like to visit Nikki\u2019s grave, wherever it is \u2013 he\u2019s never been told.\n    <\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph inline-placeholder vossi-paragraph\" data-uri=\"cms.cnn.com\/_components\/paragraph\/instances\/cm254mhi1001r3b6mec338te8@published\" data-editable=\"text\" data-component-name=\"paragraph\" data-article-gutter=\"true\">\n            \u201cI don\u2019t want to get too far ahead in the future, planning too much,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s good to plan, you know \u2026 I don\u2019t want to get too far in the future, but I\u2019m still hanging onto hope one day, I\u2019ll be able to do that.\u201d\n    <\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph inline-placeholder vossi-paragraph\" data-uri=\"cms.cnn.com\/_components\/paragraph\/instances\/cm254mhi1001s3b6me679ttw3@published\" data-editable=\"text\" data-component-name=\"paragraph\" data-article-gutter=\"true\">\n            In the meantime, Roberson holds no ill will, he said, toward the people who put him behind bars, including Wharton, the detective.\n    <\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph inline-placeholder vossi-paragraph\" data-uri=\"cms.cnn.com\/_components\/paragraph\/instances\/cm254mhi1001t3b6mieeyg15p@published\" data-editable=\"text\" data-component-name=\"paragraph\" data-article-gutter=\"true\">\n            \u201cUnforgiveness is only going to hurt us, you know? That don\u2019t mean I don\u2019t like what they did to me,\u201d Roberson said, also referring to the district attorney. \u201cBut, no, I don\u2019t hate them, I don\u2019t have no anger against them, you know. And one day I\u2019m hoping and praying they would do the right thing.\u201d\n    <\/p>\n<div data-uri=\"cms.cnn.com\/_components\/image\/instances\/cm255b23i00063b6m1mgzask8@published\" class=\"image image__hide-placeholder\" data-image-variation=\"image\" data-name=\"DSC01461.jpg\" data-component-name=\"image\" data-observe-resizes=\"\" data-breakpoints=\"{\" image--eq-extra-small=\"\" data-original-ratio=\"0.6665\" data-original-height=\"1333\" data-original-width=\"2000\" data-url=\"https:\/\/media.cnn.com\/api\/v1\/images\/stellar\/prod\/dsc01461.jpg?c=original\" data-editable=\"settings\">\n<div class=\"image__container \" data-image-variation=\"image\" data-breakpoints=\"{\" image--eq-extra-small=\"\">\n       <picture class=\"image__picture\"><source height=\"1333\" width=\"2000\" media=\"(min-width: 1280px)\" srcset=\"https:\/\/media.cnn.com\/api\/v1\/images\/stellar\/prod\/dsc01461.jpg?q=w_1110,c_fill\/f_webp\" type=\"image\/webp\"><source height=\"1333\" width=\"2000\" media=\"(min-width: 960px)\" srcset=\"https:\/\/media.cnn.com\/api\/v1\/images\/stellar\/prod\/dsc01461.jpg?q=w_1015,c_fill\/f_webp\" type=\"image\/webp\"><source height=\"1333\" width=\"2000\" media=\"(min-width: 480px)\" srcset=\"https:\/\/media.cnn.com\/api\/v1\/images\/stellar\/prod\/dsc01461.jpg?q=w_1160,c_fill\/f_webp\" type=\"image\/webp\"><source height=\"1333\" width=\"2000\" media=\"(max-width: 479px)\" srcset=\"https:\/\/media.cnn.com\/api\/v1\/images\/stellar\/prod\/dsc01461.jpg?q=w_680,c_fill\/f_webp\" type=\"image\/webp\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/media.cnn.com\/api\/v1\/images\/stellar\/prod\/dsc01461.jpg?q=w_1110,c_fill\" alt=\"Former Detective Brian Wharton\u00a0helped put Robert Roberson in prison. Now, he's a minister who feels remorseful over the investigation and wants to see Roberson's life spared.\" class=\"image__dam-img image__dam-img--loading\" onload=\"this.classList.remove('image__dam-img--loading')\" onerror=\"imageLoadError(this)\" height=\"1333\" width=\"2000\" loading=\"lazy\"\/><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture>\n    <\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"paragraph inline-placeholder vossi-paragraph\" data-uri=\"cms.cnn.com\/_components\/paragraph\/instances\/cm254mhi1001u3b6mq4ffczbo@published\" data-editable=\"text\" data-component-name=\"paragraph\" data-article-gutter=\"true\">\n            Wharton eventually left policing and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cnn.com\/2022\/10\/04\/us\/john-ramirez-dana-moore-texas-execution\/index.html\">went into ministry<\/a>. But the Roberson case stayed with him: He was comfortable with the conviction, he said, but never the death penalty. Over the years, he checked the Texas Department of Criminal Justice website to see if Roberson was still there, reassuring himself someone was still working on his appeals.\n    <\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph inline-placeholder vossi-paragraph\" data-uri=\"cms.cnn.com\/_components\/paragraph\/instances\/cm254mhi1001v3b6m9sz6vz9a@published\" data-editable=\"text\" data-component-name=\"paragraph\" data-article-gutter=\"true\">\n            When Gretchen Sween, Roberson\u2019s attorney, showed up six or eight years ago on Wharton\u2019s doorstep and asked to speak with him about the case, he did, saying he \u201chalfway expected somebody to show up.\u201d\n    <\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph inline-placeholder vossi-paragraph\" data-uri=\"cms.cnn.com\/_components\/paragraph\/instances\/cm254mhi1001w3b6mlkez7yba@published\" data-editable=\"text\" data-component-name=\"paragraph\" data-article-gutter=\"true\">\n            Now, Wharton is sure Roberson\u2019s life should be spared, and he bemoans what he feels is a \u201cpride\u201d within the justice system resistant to acknowledging a mistake. Without shaken baby syndrome, he said, \u201cthere\u2019s nothing that\u2019s chargeable here.\n    <\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph inline-placeholder vossi-paragraph\" data-uri=\"cms.cnn.com\/_components\/paragraph\/instances\/cm254mhi1001x3b6mwe6zzgil@published\" data-editable=\"text\" data-component-name=\"paragraph\" data-article-gutter=\"true\">\n            \u201cHe was doing what a father should do,\u201d Wharton said. \u201cHe was doing his best with his limited resources to get his child treated, care for her, and it just fell apart.\n    <\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph inline-placeholder vossi-paragraph\" data-uri=\"cms.cnn.com\/_components\/paragraph\/instances\/cm254mhi1001y3b6mszzyyh7e@published\" data-editable=\"text\" data-component-name=\"paragraph\" data-article-gutter=\"true\">\n            \u201cJustice is more than simply law enforcement \u2026 We are not dispensers of justice. Justice is something that\u2019s much bigger than us and beyond us, that we are always seeking justice. And it just felt like that\u2019s not what\u2019s happening here. We\u2019re seeking a conviction. We\u2019re seeking to put someone in prison or on death row, but we are not seeking justice.\u201d\n    <\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph inline-placeholder vossi-paragraph\" data-uri=\"cms.cnn.com\/_components\/paragraph\/instances\/cm254mhi1001z3b6mc1zsvp4a@published\" data-editable=\"text\" data-component-name=\"paragraph\" data-article-gutter=\"true\">\n            Earlier this year, Wharton visited Roberson for the first time and asked for his forgiveness, which the inmate granted in a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2024\/07\/30\/opinion\/death-penalty-texas.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">New York Times Op-Ed video<\/a>. The moment, Wharton said, was hard to describe.\n    <\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph inline-placeholder vossi-paragraph\" data-uri=\"cms.cnn.com\/_components\/paragraph\/instances\/cm254mhi100203b6mh0piiuyc@published\" data-editable=\"text\" data-component-name=\"paragraph\" data-article-gutter=\"true\">\n            \u201cIt\u2019s wonderful to receive his forgiveness,\u201d Wharton said. \u201cBut if the state continues on this course and kills him, I will know within myself somehow that he forgave me, but I can\u2019t forgive myself. (He\u2019ll be) dead as a consequence of the work I did.\u201d\n    <\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph inline-placeholder vossi-paragraph\" data-uri=\"cms.cnn.com\/_components\/paragraph\/instances\/cm284d1vh000s3b6m7whttbq4@published\" data-editable=\"text\" data-component-name=\"paragraph\" data-article-gutter=\"true\">\n            <strong><em>This story has been updated with additional context.<\/em><\/strong>\n    <\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph paragraph_contributors inline-placeholder vossi-paragraph_contributors\" data-uri=\"cms.cnn.com\/_components\/paragraph\/instances\/cm254mhi100213b6mplj4sd76@published\" data-editable=\"text\" data-component-name=\"paragraph\" data-article-gutter=\"true\">\n            <em>CNN\u2019s Sandee LaMotte and Stephanie Becker contributed to this report.<\/em>\n    <\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/pagead2.googlesyndication.com\/pagead\/js\/adsbygoogle.js?client=ca-pub-3711241968723425\"\r\n     crossorigin=\"anonymous\"><\/script>\r\n<ins class=\"adsbygoogle\"\r\n     style=\"display:block\"\r\n     data-ad-format=\"fluid\"\r\n     data-ad-layout-key=\"-fb+5w+4e-db+86\"\r\n     data-ad-client=\"ca-pub-3711241968723425\"\r\n     data-ad-slot=\"7910942971\"><\/ins>\r\n<script>\r\n     (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});\r\n<\/script><br \/>\n<br \/><div data-type=\"_mgwidget\" data-widget-id=\"1660802\">\r\n<\/div>\r\n<script>(function(w,q){w[q]=w[q]||[];w[q].push([\"_mgc.load\"])})(window,\"_mgq\");\r\n<\/script>\r\n<br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.cnn.com\/2024\/10\/13\/us\/robert-roberson-execution-shaken-baby-syndrome\/index.html\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>West Livingston CNN \u00a0\u2014\u00a0 Texas this week plans to execute Robert Roberson, whose attorneys say was wrongfully convicted of murdering his 2-year-old daughter more than 20 years ago. His advocates &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/?p=113968\" class=\"more-link\">Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8629],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-113968","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-u-s","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/113968","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=113968"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/113968\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=113968"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=113968"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=113968"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}