AUSTIN, TX – The Death Penalty Information Center (DPIC) has published an update regarding Robert Roberson’s fate in an ongoing attempt to finally prove his innocence against the infamously-outdated “Shaken Baby Syndrome” argument used to convict him and put him on death row.
In a new brief filed by Roberson’s additional pro bono counsel Feb. 19, new expert opinions, “including the affidavit of Dr. Michael Laposata, a nationally recognized pathologist with expertise in bleeding disorders,” support the request for grant relief and the court’s reconsideration of his “Actual Innocence.”
This case, according to the DPIC, centers around Roberson, 58, who was convicted of murder after his two-year-old daughter Nikki died in 2002 in the hospital emergency room.
Roberson was set to be executed in Oct. 2024 when the Texas Supreme Court delayed the execution after Texan lawmakers stepped in to subpoena him to testify a day after his scheduled execution, according to DPIC.
DPIC added that, while Roberson was supposed to testify about the “state’s changed-science-law and his case,” the Office of the Attorney General intervened and prevented him from testifying.
Dr. Laposta, according to the record, explained “understanding the condition of Robert’s very ill daughter Nikki upon arrival at the ER and her appearance two days later during the autopsy requires accounting for, but did not account for, her serious bleeding disorder that made her highly susceptible to internal bleeding and bruising.”
DPIC credited Dr. Laposta, “who reviewed Nikki’s medical records, autopsy, and other available information determined that based on available records,” as a pathologist with “more than four decades of expertise in coagulation and bleeding disorders.”
Ten other independent pathologists in a joint statement found in Roberson’s application also explained why “the conclusions of the medical examiner who performed the 2002 autopsy are deeply flawed and unreliable.”
Previously, in Oct. 2024, the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals (CCA) even acknowledged that the “scientific foundation of the ‘Shaken Baby Syndrome (SBS) convictions lack reliability” in a similar separate case, according to the DPIC.
DPIC said what the medical community used to believe when it came to SBS, in which “whenever a triad of symptoms appeared in a child, that child must have been violently shaken or struck against a blunt surface.”
The medical community in the past believed that “short falls or natural illness could not result in this triad of symptoms,” wrote DPIC.
However, Nikki was finally diagnosed by Dr. Laposta to suffer from Disseminated Intravascular Coagulation (DIC), according to Roberson’s new appeal.
“The most plausible explanation for Nikki Curtis’ bleeding and bruising is the development of DIC starting months before the events which took her life,” he stated, debunking the initial medical examiner’s observation of “multiple impacts.”
Dr. Laposta further commented on the inconsistencies of three other medical experts at Roberson’s trial after reviewing their reports, according to DPIC.
DPIC elaborated that DIC is a “blood clotting disorder than is known to be commonly caused by serious illnesses, such as pneumonia.”
“In 2002, Mr. Roberson’s two-year-old daughter Nikki was sick with high fever and undiagnosed pneumonia and had been prescribed medications inappropriate for her age (Phenergan and Codeine) before suffering a short fall from bed,” DPIC contextualized.
When Roberson brought Nikki to the emergency room, DPIC further explained how “hospital staff misinterpreted Mr. Roberson’s flat mannerisms, caused by autism, as emotional detachment,” which led “police and prosecutors to suspect him of playing a role in Nikki’s eventual death.”
To fight for Roberson’s case in front of CCA, his counsel pointed to a decision CCA made in a similar case as a precedent, referring to Ex Parte Roark, reported by DPIC.
CCA once ruled: “We find that scientific knowledge has evolved regarding SBS and its application in Applicant’s case,” mirroring Roberson’s situation.
“In addition, we find that given further study, the experts would have given a different opinion on several issues at a trial today – some already have,” the CCA ruled in Roark, adding, “The admissible scientific testimony at trial today would likely justify an acquittal.”
Thus, DPIC and Roberson’s counsel pointed out “the Court overturned a murder conviction based on the SBS testimony of the same expert who testified against Mr. Roberson.”
Without hearing from Mr. Roberson in Oct. 2024, “the House Committee on Criminal Jurisprudence released in an interim report, which is included in Mr. Roberson’s new filing” in 2025, reported by DPIC.
Ultimately, Roberson’s case, according to the committee, “highlighted not just an individual injustice, but the unfulfilled promise of what was intended to be a pioneering Texas law.”
DPIC said “at least 40 parents and caregivers across 20 states and the military have been exonerated since 1992 after being wrongfully convicted based on the discredited ‘Shaken Baby’ hypothesis.”
