{"id":116223,"date":"2024-10-20T06:23:48","date_gmt":"2024-10-19T23:23:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/?p=116223"},"modified":"2024-10-20T06:23:48","modified_gmt":"2024-10-19T23:23:48","slug":"texas-gov-greg-abbott-stayed-silent-about-robert-roberson","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/?p=116223","title":{"rendered":"Texas Gov. Greg Abbott stayed silent about Robert Roberson"},"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>\n<div class=\"c-plugin c-plugin--default c-plugin--narrow is-hidden-print c-plugin--seamless\">\n<div class=\"c-plugin__inner\">\n<figure>\n    <iframe title=\"Article narration\" style=\"width: 100%; height: 100px; border: none; display: none;\" data-project-id=\"kJdMwATp9zKnrhK0cHGq\" allowfullscreen=\"false\" allowtransparency=\"\" allow=\"clipboard-read; clipboard-write\" frameborder=\"0\" id=\"ad-auris-iframe\" scrolling=\"no\"><\/iframe><figcaption class=\"has-text-gray-dark t-links-underlined t-size-xs\" aria-hidden=\"true\">Audio recording is automated for accessibility. Humans wrote and edited the story. See our <a href=\"https:\/\/www.texastribune.org\/about\/ethics\/#ai-policy\" tabindex=\"-1\">AI policy<\/a>, and give us <a href=\"https:\/\/airtable.com\/appFeleeKVUN0Iytx\/pagPG40gbkU0EfjIr\/form?prefill_Where+did+you+view+the+content%3F=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.texastribune.org\/2024\/10\/19\/greg-abbott-robert-roberson-death-penalty\/\" tabindex=\"-1\">feedback<\/a>.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"t-copy t-links-underlined t-align-left\"><em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.texastribune.org\/newsletters\/the-brief\/?utm_medium=website&amp;utm_source=trib-ads-owned&amp;utm_campaign=trib-marketing&amp;utm_term=inline-CTA-brief\">Sign up for The Brief<\/a>, The Texas Tribune\u2019s daily newsletter that keeps readers up to speed on the most essential Texas news.<\/em>\n<\/p>\n<hr class=\"t-copy has-xxl-vert-marg\"\/>\n<p class=\"t-copy t-links-underlined t-align-left\">In a state where the death penalty is as ingrained as cowboy boots and conservative politics, news of Robert Roberson\u2019s death sentence broke through in Texas after the rarest of phenoms: a noisy, bipartisan effort that bypassed the governor\u2019s office to save a man from lethal injection.<\/p>\n<p class=\"t-copy t-links-underlined t-align-left\">For years, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.texastribune.org\/2016\/06\/17\/appeals-court-halts-east-texas-mans-execution\/\">the appeals<\/a> of Roberson\u2019s capital murder conviction for the 2002 death of his chronically ill, 2-year-old daughter had lumbered through the courts, tracing a byzantine process that often fails to register with residents of the nation\u2019s execution capital, where <a href=\"https:\/\/www.tdcj.texas.gov\/death_row\/dr_executed_offenders.html\">591 inmates have been put to death<\/a> in the state since capital punishment was reinstated in 1976.<\/p>\n<p class=\"t-copy t-links-underlined t-align-left\">But while lawmakers were making historic interventions, many Texans took note of the silence by the person traditionally empowered to step in at the last minute: Gov. Greg Abbott.<\/p>\n<p class=\"t-copy t-links-underlined t-align-left\">\u201cAbbott\u2019s silence is deafening,\u201d said Brandon Rottinghaus, a professor of political science at the University of Houston.<\/p>\n<p class=\"t-copy t-links-underlined t-align-left\">After all, Abbott had at his disposal the power to grant a 30-day reprieve for Roberson, whose lawyers claim was wrongfully convicted based on junk science. A U.S. Supreme Court Justice urged him to take that step. If Abbott had, there would have been no frantic and unprecedented rush by lawmakers to issue a subpoena of Roberson and then go to court to block the execution \u2014 first to a Travis County judge, then to Texas\u2019 two high courts before Roberson\u2019s execution was finally called off.<\/p>\n<p class=\"t-copy t-links-underlined t-align-left\">There\u2019s been no public statement from Abbott about Roberson\u2019s case before or since. If the execution had gone forward, Roberson would have been the first person in the nation to be put to death in a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.texastribune.org\/2024\/10\/17\/robert-roberson-shaken-baby-controversy\/\">shaken baby syndrome case<\/a>, a diagnosis that has come into question in recent years. Multiple requests for comment to the governor\u2019s office by The Texas Tribune went unanswered.<\/p>\n<p class=\"t-copy t-links-underlined t-align-left\">The silence \u201ccertainly signals his willingness to go his own way against the Legislature and also reflects that, like Gov. Perry before him, the realization that being tough on crime is an essential element of muscularity for national Republicans,\u201d Rottinghaus said.<\/p>\n<h3 id=\"c80c8c3a-6c87-4ddd-923e-7ee27fa08626\" class=\"t-copy t-copy--level-3 t-align-left\">Silence on executions, not unusual<\/h3>\n<p class=\"t-copy t-links-underlined t-align-left\">Unlike the Hollywood image of a governor making a frantic phone call to stop an execution, the reality, especially in Texas, is far less dramatic. Texas governors can only act on a recommendation of clemency from their own appointees to the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles. Or they can opt for the 30-day reprieve.<\/p>\n<div class=\"c-plugin c-plugin--seamless c-plugin--flush \">\n<div class=\"c-plugin__inner\">\n<div class=\"c-prompt c-prompt--box c-prompt--livestream\" onclick=\"event.stopPropagation();\">\n<div class=\"c-prompt__content t-align-center\">\n<p>            <img decoding=\"async\" class=\"c-prompt__img\" src=\"https:\/\/static.texastribune.org\/media\/prompts\/promo-brief-logo.png\" alt=\"Logo for The Brief newsletter.\"\/><\/p>\n<p>The most important Texas news,<br \/>sent weekday mornings.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"t-copy t-links-underlined t-align-left\">According to the Associated Press, the Texas parole board has recommended clemency in a death row case only six times since the state resumed executions in 1982. In three of those cases, death row inmates had their sentences commuted to life in prison. In two of the cases, Perry rejected the parole board&#8217;s recommendation to commute a death sentence to life in prison, and the two prisoners were executed.<\/p>\n<p class=\"t-copy t-links-underlined t-align-left\">But despite that limited power, Abbott may have inadvertently raised the Texas public\u2019s expectations of intervention last year. That\u2019s when he was quick to jump in publicly after a jury convicted an Austin man of fatally shooting a Black Lives Matter protester. Abbott<a href=\"https:\/\/www.texastribune.org\/2023\/04\/13\/daniel-perry-pardon-greg-abbott\/\"> posted on social media that he would quickly<\/a> seek a pardon. The parole board did recommend a pardon a year later, and Abbott <a href=\"https:\/\/www.texastribune.org\/2024\/05\/16\/daniel-perry-greg-abbott-pardon\/\">made good<\/a> on his promise.<\/p>\n<p class=\"t-copy t-links-underlined t-align-left\">But veteran court watchers say Abbott\u2019s silence on even a high profile death penalty case is not out of the ordinary.<\/p>\n<p class=\"t-copy t-links-underlined t-align-left\">\u201cIt\u2019s typical,\u201d said Elsa Alcala, who <a href=\"https:\/\/www.texastribune.org\/2019\/01\/16\/texas-court-of-criminal-appeals-elsa-alcala-departure\/\">served for seven years as a judge<\/a> on the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals, the state\u2019s highest criminal court, before stepping down in 2018. \u201cUsually, the governor doesn\u2019t get involved.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"t-copy t-links-underlined t-align-left\">So far, more than 60 executions have been carried out while Abbott has been governor, a fraction of the more than 200 that occurred when former Gov. Rick Perry was in office. That\u2019s the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.texastribune.org\/2017\/12\/14\/texas-leads-nation-executions-its-death-row-population-dropping\/\">result of increased judicial scrutiny on death row cases <\/a>and more prosecutors seeking life in prison instead of the death penalty.<\/p>\n<p class=\"t-copy t-links-underlined t-align-left\">Abbott has only commuted one death sentence. In 2018, he spared the life of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.texastribune.org\/2018\/02\/22\/texas-gov-greg-abbott-thomas-whitaker-death-sentence\/\">Thomas \u201cBart\u201d Whitaker<\/a>, who masterminded a murder-for-hire scheme that resulted in the death of his mother and younger brother and injured his construction company executive father, who ultimately forgave his son. Whitaker\u2019s case was reduced to a life sentence.<\/p>\n<p class=\"t-copy t-links-underlined t-align-left\">\u201cEven going back to Ann Richards, I don\u2019t think there\u2019s a history of Texas governors in capital cases giving reprieves,\u201d said Kenneth Williams, the Fred Gray Endowed Chair for Civil Rights and Constitutional Law at Texas Tech University. \u201cThey rarely do in capital cases.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"t-copy t-links-underlined t-align-left\">Longtime Texas political observer Cal Jillson agreed.<\/p>\n<p class=\"t-copy t-links-underlined t-align-left\">\u201cGovernors at least going back to George W. Bush, in the case of a mentally challenged inmate named <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2000\/08\/09\/us\/texas-board-refuses-to-halt-execution-of-low-iq-inmate.html\">Oliver Cruz<\/a>, and Rick Perry, in the case of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.texastribune.org\/2011\/04\/14\/cameron-todd-willingham-a-timeline\/\">Cameron Todd Willingham<\/a>, have been reluctant to intervene in death penalty cases for fear of appearing \u2018soft on crime,\u2019\u201d said Jillson, a political science professor at Southern Methodist University.<\/p>\n<p class=\"t-copy t-links-underlined t-align-left\">The added fact that Abbott, before he was first elected governor in 2014, was the state\u2019s longest-serving attorney general, whose office is charged with ensuring a trial court\u2019s death sentence is carried out, could help explain why Texans don\u2019t hear much from him regarding an individual\u2019s case.<\/p>\n<p class=\"t-copy t-links-underlined t-align-left\">\u201cHe defended these cases, so that may weigh on him as governor,\u201d said Williams, the Texas Tech University law professor, adding that Abbott\u2019s lack of intervention in this or any other case is not out of step with governors in other states.<\/p>\n<p class=\"t-copy t-links-underlined t-align-left\">\u201cMost governors are reluctant to grant any kind of clemency after there\u2019s been conviction,\u201d he said. \u201cI don\u2019t think they want the blowback in that.\u201d.<\/p>\n<h3 id=\"68fbb0e3-c2b9-400b-aef4-8b747b6150c5\" class=\"t-copy t-copy--level-3 t-align-left\">How the case unfolded<\/h3>\n<p class=\"t-copy t-links-underlined t-align-left\">Roberson, 57, of Palestine, was convicted of his daughter\u2019s death in 2003 after an autopsy determined his daughter, Nikki, who had been ill with a fever, had died of shaking and blows. Investigators believed that Roberson\u2019s emotionless demeanor was further evidence of his guilt. Roberson has since been diagnosed as having autism, which could explain Roberson\u2019s behavior at the time. A police detective whose investigation sent the East Texas man to death row, now supports Roberson\u2019s claims of innocence.<\/p>\n<p class=\"t-copy t-links-underlined t-align-left\">On Wednesday, as both the Texas parole board and the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals rejected Roberson\u2019s last-minute appeals, the House committee members issued their subpoena, arguing that only Roberson could provide unique testimony on Texas\u2019 pioneering <a href=\"https:\/\/www.texastribune.org\/2024\/07\/29\/texas-junk-science-law-convictions-appeal-criminal-court\/\">2013 junk science law<\/a> \u2014 which Roberson had tried, and failed, to use to prove his innocence. Last month, 80 Texas lawmakers, including supporters of the death penalty, wrote Texas parole board members in support of Roberson\u2019s request for clemency.<\/p>\n<p class=\"t-copy t-links-underlined t-align-left\">The law is designed to allow defendants an avenue to prove their innocence if they were convicted based on science that is later shown to be faulty. In fact, no Texas death row inmate has successfully used the law to obtain a new trial, leading the Texas Defender Service <a href=\"https:\/\/www.texasdefender.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/TDS-11.073-Report.pdf\">to conclude <\/a>that the statute \u201cis not operating as the Texas Legislature intended.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"t-copy t-links-underlined t-align-left\">The steps legislators took to halt the execution were unprecedented, and drew some complaints of overstepping their authority.<\/p>\n<p class=\"t-copy t-links-underlined t-align-left\">\u201cI will absolutely defend what we did,\u201d state Rep. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.texastribune.org\/directory\/brian-harrison\/\">Brian Harrison<\/a>, R-Midlothian, a member of the House jurisprudence committee who began looking into Roberson\u2019s cases a few months ago on the recommendation of a colleague. \u201cWe have to protect the integrity of the criminal justice system.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"t-copy t-links-underlined t-align-left\">Harrison confirmed that lawmakers contacted Abbott after their subpoena was issued but did not want to discuss specifics of those conversations, describing them only as \u201cprofessional and productive.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"t-copy t-links-underlined t-align-left\">Many of those who tracked the Roberson saga this week were struck more by the actions of the Legislature than the inaction of Abbott.<\/p>\n<p class=\"t-copy t-links-underlined t-align-left\">\u201cWhat is unusual in the case of Robert Roberson is not so much Abbott\u2019s silence, as the bipartisan effort to slow this execution at least long enough to take a closer look,\u201d Jillson said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"t-copy t-links-underlined t-align-left\">But Amanda Marzullo, the former executive director of the Texas Defender Service, said it was necessary for the Legislature to step in, given that the use of clemency by American governors has waned.<\/p>\n<p class=\"t-copy t-links-underlined t-align-left\">\u201cWe have seen a massive atrophy in the clemency power,\u201d she said. \u201cIt was something governors did all the time.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"t-copy t-links-underlined t-align-left\">She pointed to how more than 200 years ago, a governor\u2019s pardon power was used more often because death was often the punishment for far lesser crimes.<\/p>\n<p class=\"t-copy t-links-underlined t-align-left\">&#8220;This is how this system was designed,\u201d Marzullo said. \u201cSo no one branch is doing all of the work in a particular sector.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/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.texastribune.org\/2024\/10\/19\/greg-abbott-robert-roberson-death-penalty\/\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Audio recording is automated for accessibility. 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