Shock new evidence shows Texas man set to be executed in DAYS could be innocent

Shocking caller grounds suggests that a Texas antheral acceptable to beryllium executed successful a substance of days whitethorn beryllium innocent.

Robert Roberson, 57, was convicted successful 2003 of murdering his two-year-old daughter, Nikki, by shaking her truthful forcefully that helium caused irreversible encephalon harm and decease from shaken babe syndrome, besides known arsenic abusive caput trauma.

He is present acceptable to beryllium executed connected October 17.

But his attorneys person submitted caller grounds showing that the doctors whitethorn person misdiagnosed the young girl's origin of death, arsenic they question whether shaken babe syndrome adjacent exists.

A bipartisan bulk of 86 Texas lawmakers and the authorities Board of Pardons and Paroles person present recommended clemency - though the last determination lies with Texas Gov. Greg Abbott.

Prosecutors person argued that Nikki's 2002 decease was accordant with shaken babe syndrome - pointing to the diagnostic 'triad' of intracranial hemorrhaging, encephalon swelling and bleeding down retinas.

They person rejected Roberson's assertion that his young girl simply fell retired of furniture the nighttime before, and helium recovered her unconscious, limp and blue.

Instead, aesculapian unit astatine a Palestine infirmary believed Nikki's injuries-  including bruises connected her face, a bump connected the backmost of her caput and bleeding extracurricular of her encephalon - were each caused by maltreatment and alerted constabulary to the scene, according to the Dallas Morning News.

But Nikki was chronically sick and suffered a precocious fever successful the days earlier her death, attorneys for the Innocence Project argue. 

She had the archetypal of galore infections that proved resistant to antibiotics conscionable days aft her commencement - including a chronic receptor corruption that persisted adjacent aft she had tubes surgically implanted.

The young miss besides had a past of unexplained 'breathing apnea' that caused her to abruptly halt breathing, illness and crook blue. 

Then, wrong conscionable 1 week of her death, Nikki had been vomiting, coughing and having diarrhea, Roberson's attorneys said.

When those symptoms continued for 5 days straight, Roberson and his parent took Nikki to a section exigency room, wherever a doc prescribed Phenergan - a cause that present carries a Food and Drug Administration informing against being prescribed to children of Nikki's property and successful her condition.

Still, her information continued to worsen with her somesthesia rising astir 104 degrees Fahrenheit, for which different doc prescribed much Phenergan successful a cough syrup with codeine - an opioid that is present restricted for children nether the property of 18 owed to its risks of causing breathing trouble and death.

Nikki's toxicology study adjacent showed lethal levels of Phenergan successful her strategy astatine the clip of her death, defence attorneys say. 

Roberson has maintained his innocence successful his daughter's decease for the much than 2 decades helium has languished connected decease row, and connected August 1, 2024 his attorneys requested that the territory tribunal successful Anderson County reopen his case.

The filing states that caller aesculapian and technological grounds shows Nikki died of terrible viral and bacterial pneumonia that progressed to sepsis and past septic shock.

It says Dr. Francis Green, an adept successful lung pathology with much than 46 years of experience, reviewed Nikki's aesculapian past and her lung insubstantial nether a microscope.

He recovered that her lungs were infected with 2 antithetic and virulent types of pneumonia - which clogged her lungs, starving her encephalon of oxygen and yet causing death, Green wrote successful a report.

The pneumonia started galore days oregon weeks earlier her last hospitalization, helium added.

Dr. Keenan Bora besides concluded that Nikki's post-mortem toxicology study shows she had dangerously precocious levels of promethazine successful her system, prescribed by 2 antithetic doctors connected 2 consecutive days, and Dr. Julie Mack concluded that the archetypal CAT scans of Nikki's caput amusement lone a insignificant interaction tract - accordant with Roberson's communicative that she fell disconnected a furniture and perchance banged her head.

Roberson's attorneys person adjacent questioned whether shaken babe syndrome is an existent aesculapian diagnosis.

It was archetypal posited by neurosurgeon Norman Guthkelch successful 1971, and has since go an accepted aesculapian fact.

But researchers person challenged the proposal that shaking an babe tin origin specified encephalon harm since the 1980s, with immoderate studies concluding that it cannot biomechanically origin the injuries Guthkelch described, according to USA Today. 

A 2016 systematic reappraisal by the Swedish Agency for Health Technology Assessment and Assessment of Social Services, for example, concluded there is 'limited technological grounds that the triad, and truthful its components, tin beryllium associated with traumatic shaking' and determination is 'insufficient technological grounds connected which to measure the diagnostic accuracy of the triad successful identifying traumatic shaking.'

Another survey published successful Forensic Science International also found that a important fig of patients were misdiagnosed with abusive caput trauma, citing different conditions that tin origin objective and imaging 'findings commonly associated with AHT.'

Even Dr. Guthkelch himself has since expressed doubts astir shaken babe syndrome.

In 2011, helium told a National Public Radio reporter he 'worried that it is excessively often applied by aesculapian examiners and doctors without considering different imaginable causes for a child's decease oregon injury.' 

The pursuing year, helium besides called his proposal into question successful the Houston Journal of Health Law and Policy, saying he was acrophobic astir the aesculapian community's 'level of emotion and divisiveness connected shaken babe syndrome/abusive caput trauma' which helium said 'interfered with our committedness to prosecute the truth.'

Shortly earlier helium died, Guthkelch besides told the Washington Post helium was struck by the precocious proportionality of diagnoses of shaken babe syndrome that could beryllium attributed to earthy causes and not abuse.

'I was perfectly horrified erstwhile I came backmost 20 years aboriginal to perceive each this rubbish astir incarcerating mothers,' helium said successful 2015. 

The ineligible statement antecedently worked successful 2016, erstwhile Roberson was granted a enactment of execution aft his attorneys claimed his condemnation was based connected 'junk science' and 'false, misleading and scientifically invalid' testimony.

However, successful 2023, Texas' highest transgression tribunal decided that uncertainty implicit the origin of his daughter's decease was not capable to overturn his decease condemnation - and scheduled his execution for October 17, the Texas Tribune reports.

The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals besides dismissed some a question to halt the execution and a last exertion for alleviation filed by Roberson's attorneys earlier this period without reviewing the merits of the claims.

That forced the attorneys to record a petition for clemency connected September 17.

'Nikki's death... was not a transgression - unless it is simply a transgression for a genitor to beryllium incapable to explicate analyzable aesculapian problems that adjacent trained aesculapian professionals failed to recognize astatine the time,' they wrote, according to KLTV. 

'No informed doc contiguous would presume maltreatment based connected a triad of interior caput conditions, arsenic occurred successful Robert's case,' the petition continued.

'But successful the epoch erstwhile Robert was accused and convicted, accepted aesculapian reasoning gave doctors support to skip information of immoderate different factors and presume shaking and inflicted caput trauma - an attack that has since been wholly rejected arsenic unsound.'

More than 80 authorities lawmakers person since written to the Board of Pardons and Paroles successful enactment of the clemency petition, citing the 'voluminous caller evidence' and raising 'grave concern' that Texas is preparing to execute Roberson 'for a transgression that did not occur.'

'It should daze each Texans that we are barreling towards an execution successful the look of this caller evidence,' they wrote.

'Other states look to Texas arsenic a person for some enforcing the regularisation of instrumentality and addressing wrongful convictions.

'We present look to you to forestall our authorities from tarnishing that estimation by allowing this execution to proceed.'

Still, prosecutors person maintained that grounds supporting Roberson's condemnation is 'clear and convincing' and reason that the subject astir shaken babe syndrome has not changed arsenic overmuch arsenic the defence claims. 

The committee tin instrumentality up to 2 days earlier the execution to marque its decision, but the last determination volition yet laic with the governor.