Verdicts & sentences

Texas Court Halts Execution in Alleged Shaken Baby Syndrome Case

Published OCT 9 2025

Story

Above: Robert Roberson sits behind glass at the Allan B. Polunsky Unit prison in Livingston, Texas on Jan. 22, 2025. Image credit: Cecile Clocheret/Getty Images

The Facts

The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals granted Robert Roberson, who was convicted of capital murder and sentenced to death for the 2002 murder of his daughter, Nikki, an emergency stay of execution on Thursday, just days before his scheduled Oct. 16 lethal injection date.
NBC
Houston Chronicle
FOX 4 News Dallas on Youtube
Roberson's case centers on shaken baby syndrome, with prosecutors arguing he violently shook his 2-year-old daughter, causing fatal head trauma, while his defense team maintains she died from pneumonia complications and outdated scientific evidence.
The Texas Tribune
Breitbart
The court's decision referenced a similar 2023 ruling that overturned Andrew Roark's shaken baby conviction from Dallas County, where prosecutors later found him innocent based on advances in medical science regarding the syndrome.
The Guardian
NBC
Roberson was diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder in 2018, years after his conviction. His attorneys argued that his previous unemotional response when bringing his daughter to the hospital was used as evidence of guilt during his 2003 trial.
New York Post
NBC
A bipartisan group of Texas lawmakers previously intervened to halt Roberson's execution in 2024, while state Attorney General Ken Paxton's office has maintained the conviction and pushed for the execution date despite pending appeals.
Breitbart
The Texas Tribune
The case has been remanded to the Anderson County trial court under Texas's 2013 junk science law, which allows inmates to challenge convictions based on advances in forensic science, though no death row inmate has successfully used it for a new trial.
Texas Standard
The Texas Tribune

Sources Split

LEFT

CENTER

RIGHT

ESTAB
CRIT

CENTER

PRO
ESTAB

The Spin

Narrative A

Texas has been poised to execute an innocent man based on debunked shaken baby syndrome science, so hopefully, this injunction will lead to true justice over pseudoscience. Roberson's behavior was misinterpreted as guilt, and new medical evidence shows his daughter died from pneumonia complications, not abuse. Even the lead detective now believes in his innocence after recognizing the flawed investigation.

The Guardian

The Marshall Project

Narrative B

If justice is served correctly, this injunction simply prolongs the inevitable. The evidence suggests that Roberson murdered his two-year-old daughter through repeated blunt force trauma. Medical investigations have been solid, and activists are interfering in bad faith. Due process must continue.