Robert Roberson is scheduled to be put to death Oct. 17. His case — based on a syndrome shrouded in legal uncertainty — has led the original detective to call for his release.

Robert Roberson is scheduled to be put to death Oct. 17. His case — based on a syndrome shrouded in legal uncertainty — has led the original detective to call for his release.

A condemned man in Texas is set to die this month in what would be the country’s first execution for “shaken baby syndrome,” a scrutinized diagnosis that has been successfully challenged in some criminal cases.

After he filed a clemency petition with the state ahead of his execution, which is scheduled for Oct. 17, Robert Roberson told NBC News anchor Lester Holt in an interview airing Thursday that he is urging Texas Gov. Greg Abbott to pardon him and “let me go home.”

“Look at the support I’ve got, Mr. Governor, and I’m just hoping, praying that you do the right thing,” said Roberson, who was convicted of capital murder in his 2-year-old daughter’s 2002 death.

  • @[email protected]
    8•3 months ago

    Shaken baby syndrome has been challenged in courts, and rightfully so.

    Over the past two decades, there has been a revolution in the understanding of internal pediatric head conditions, which has shown that numerous naturally occurring illnesses can affect a child in the manner previously attributed to SBS. My own extensive research was key to the evolution of the science and to discrediting SBS.

    According to the National Registry of Exonerations, at least 30 people served years or decades in prison after convictions involving the SBS theory before being exonerated. But the law, in many cases, has not kept up with the science.

    https://news.bloomberglaw.com/us-law-week/law-needs-to-keep-up-with-science-in-shaken-baby-syndrome-cases