Robert Leslie Roberson III (born November 10, 1966) is an American man convicted and on death row for the murder of his two-year-old daughter in 2002.
[8] Prior to 2002, Roberson was divorced with two children, and he also fathered a daughter with another woman, who was reputedly a habitual drug abuser and sex worker.
He stated to hospital authorities that his daughter had fallen from her bed and sustained head injuries, and was unconscious and not breathing when he awoke and found her.
[9] At trial, the prosecution argued that Roberson intentionally murdered Nikki by means of lethal head injuries through severe abuse.
During the court trial, medical experts theorized that Nikki’s death was, in part, caused by "shaken baby syndrome", which involves the violent shaking of an infant resulting in severe head injuries.
They believed she had motivation to lie, having lost custody of their two children years prior in a drawn-out court battle, noting that she was flown in from Alabama to testify.
[17][18] Throughout the following years, the case of Roberson began to garner attention due to the fact that a key factor of his conviction was "shaken baby syndrome", a scientific theory that some critics label junk science despite the majority of researchers in the field recognizing that some patterns of injury are suggestive of abuse which may at least partially be the result of shaking.
[24] Alternatively, bruising and internal bleeding could have been caused via reorientation of the skull to adjust for urgent intubation in an effort to prevent brain death.
[25] Another factor in this controversy was that, after his trial, Roberson was reportedly diagnosed with autism, a neurodevelopmental disorder that could lead to difficulties in social communication.
[31] On January 11, 2023, the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals decided that there was insufficient basis for the court to intervene in Roberson's case after they found that the doubt surrounding the death of Nikki and purported concerns with theory of shaken baby syndrome was not enough to bring Roberson off death row or revoke his conviction for murder.
[35][36] Roberson was reportedly the first death row prisoner convicted on the grounds of "shaken baby syndrome" to have an execution date scheduled in the United States.
The Texas Attorney General's office had responded that Roberson had failed to prove his innocence and it had been upheld by multiple court proceedings that the cause of Nikki Curtis's death was "inconsistent with a short fall from a bed or complications from a virus".
[58][59] However, the Supreme Court of Texas intervened and temporarily halted the execution after Roberson's attorney and state lawmakers filed a last second appeal for a stay.
[60] Roberson was scheduled to testify before the House committee on October 21, 2024, where the lawmakers were to consider his testimony when determining whether amendments should be made to Texas law governing "junk science".
[61] However, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton barred Roberson from appearing in-person to testify, saying it wouldn't be safe to bring a death row inmate to the Capitol.
[62] On November 15, 2024, the Texas Supreme Court ruled that state lawmakers had "exceeded their power" when they called on Roberson to testify before a House committee.