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TX Lawmakers Hearing From Death Row Inmate On ‘Junk Science' Law

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Robert Roberson’s execution in Texas was abruptly halted over a subpoena ordering him to testify over a legal backstop that both Republicans and Democrats say should had saved him long ago: Texas’ junk science law. The 2013 measure allows people convicted of crimes to seek relief if the evidence used against them is no longer credible. It was hailed by legislators as a uniquely future-proof solution to wrongful convictions based on faulty science. Roberson’s supporters say his case points to faults in the judicial system, where the law has been weakened by deliberate misinterpretation from the state’s highest criminal court. On Monday, Roberson will testify to a state House committee, four days after he had been due to die by lethal injection, the Associated Press reports. “He’s seen how the prosecution has really stood in the way of bringing new science forward,” said state Rep. John Bucy. “I think his first hand account will be helpful for that.”


Roberson, 57, was convicted of murder in the 2002 death of his 2-year-old daughter, Nikki Curtis, in Palestine, Tex., Prosecutors alleged that he violently shook his daughter back and forth, causing fatal head trauma. A bipartisan group of lawmakers, medical experts and the former lead prosecutor have supported Roberson, stating that his conviction is based on flawed science. In his clemency petition to Gov. Greg Abbott, several medical professionals wrote that Roberson’s conviction is based on outdated scientific evidence and that Curtis likely died from complications with severe pneumonia. Shaken baby syndrome, now called abusive head trauma, was a popular misdiagnosis that has largely been debunked, say Roberson’s attorneys. Courts rejected numerous attempts by his attorneys to hear new evidence, and Texas’ parole board voted to not recommend Roberson clemency, a necessary step for Abbott to stay the execution. No one facing execution has had their sentence overturned since the junk science law was enacted in 2013, says the civil rights group Texas Defender Service. In the last 10 years, 74 applications have been filed and ruled on under the junk science law. A third of applications came from people facing the death penalty. Of applications that led to relief, nearly three-quarters were for convictions related to DNA evidence.

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