Texas court lifts injunction delaying execution of man in shaken baby syndrome case

Oct 17 (Reuters) – The top criminal appeals court in Texas on Thursday lifted an injunction delaying the execution of a man scheduled to become the first person executed in the United States for murder attributed to shaken baby syndrome, according to court documents.

Earlier on Thursday, Travis County 200th Civil District Court Judge Jessica Mangrum issued a temporary restraining order just hours before Robert Roberson was to be put to death, according to Mangrum’s office.

Roberson’s lawyers and a group of bipartisan state lawmakers who have championed his case are now expected to ask the Texas Supreme Court to weigh in on the matter.

The U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday had also denied Roberson’s request for a stay of his execution, which had been scheduled to take place at 6 p.m. (2300 GMT) and could still be carried out Thursday night.

The office of Texas Governor Greg Abbott and the Texas Attorney General’s Office did not reply to requests for comment.

Roberson, 56, was convicted of killing his 2-year-old daughter, Nikki, in 2002. The prosecution said he took her to hospital where scans showed she had internal brain trauma of the sort that at the time was thought to indicate a baby had been violently shaken by someone.

In the days before her death, a doctor had diagnosed Nikki as having a viral infection and a fever, and Roberson has long said that on the morning of her death he found she had fallen out of bed.

Many lawmakers in the Republican-controlled Texas House of Representatives have questioned his conviction, and a House committee attempted to buy Roberson time by issuing a subpoena for him to testify before them next week. This subpoena was the basis for Mangrum’s temporary injunction.

The lead detective who helped secure Roberson’s conviction has since said he believes Roberson is innocent.

The Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles denied Roberson’s bid for clemency on Wednesday.

In a response to Roberson’s Supreme Court petition to stay his execution, the Texas Attorney General’s Office said Roberson had failed to prove his “actual innocence,” and that the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals had ruled that Nikki’s injuries were “inconsistent with a short fall from a bed or complications from a virus.”

Roberson’s lawyers told the Supreme Court that the medical theory used to convict Roberson in 2003 “has since been entirely discredited.”

“Not only was abuse presumed in 2003,” his lawyers wrote, “but Roberson’s blunted affect and aloof mannerisms, manifestations of his Autism Spectrum Disorder mistaken for a lack of care, led medical staff and law enforcement alike to presume culpability.”

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REUTERS