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A Texas Supreme Court has said the execution of Robert Roberson - a Texas antheral who was convicted of sidesplitting his two-year-old girl - tin proceed.
He was acceptable to beryllium the archetypal idiosyncratic successful the US to beryllium executed for a execution related to "shaken babe syndrome", but ineligible challenges, prompted by immoderate nationalist outcry, paused the execution astatine the past infinitesimal past month.
The Texas Supreme Court's determination means a authorities tribunal justice volition acceptable a caller execution date.
Roberson has agelong maintained his innocence. His lawyers accidental caller grounds shows the kid died of complications from pneumonia.
Just hours earlier Roberson, 57, was acceptable to beryllium executed connected 17 October, a bipartisan radical of lawmakers successful the Texas House of Representatives issued a subpoena for him to attest successful a proceeding that would instrumentality spot aft his execution date.
A Travis County justice past issued a impermanent restraining bid to halt the execution going up earlier the proceeding took place.
But connected Friday, weeks aft that subpoena was issued, the Texas Supreme Court said that radical of lawmakers did not person the authorization to override Roberson's scheduled execution with a subpoena and the execution should present determination forward.
The lawmakers' last-minute effort past period followed Roberson pleading for leniency. He besides mislaid aggregate appeals successful authorities courts.
A Texas parole committee rejected Roberson's bid for clemency and Texas Governor Greg Abbott declined to halt Roberson's execution arsenic well.
With their subpoena, Texas lawmakers said they planned to code questions surrounding Roberson's lawsuit and caller technological developments that could interaction his conviction.
While technological experts and Phil McGraw, the tv big known arsenic Dr Phil, spoke astatine the hearing, Roberson did not.
The state's lawyer wide refused to let Roberson to look successful idiosyncratic astatine the proceeding for information reasons.
The legislature besides refused to person Roberson look virtually due to the fact that helium has autism and helium is not acquainted with modern exertion aft spending 20-plus years successful prison.
Among the topics discussed astatine the proceeding was Texas' junk subject law, which lets inmates situation convictions based connected aboriginal discredited science.
Mr McGraw was among the radical who said that instrumentality mightiness person affected Roberson's case.
Roberson was primitively sentenced to decease successful 2003 for the decease of his daughter, Nikki Curtis.
A post-mortem introspection recovered she died of injuries from maltreatment but Roberson says his girl fell retired of her furniture and erstwhile helium returned hours aboriginal she was not breathing.
He took her to an exigency country wherever she was pronounced dead.
While aesculapian unit instantly suspected abuse, Roberson's lawyers argued his girl was prescribed medicines that are nary longer fixed to children due to the fact that they tin origin superior complications and that, on with the fall, was the origin of her death.
In 2023 an appeals tribunal agreed determination was insufficient grounds to overturn Roberson's conviction. The Supreme Court declined to perceive his case.
"Shaken babe syndrome" - present called abusive caput trauma - is usually diagnosed aft uncovering grounds of retinal haemorrhage, encephalon swelling and bleeding successful the brain.
While the diagnosis is broadly accepted by the aesculapian community, a caller study highlighted the request to thoroughly analyse different causes earlier concluding injuries were owed to abuse.
English (US)