A new subpoena issued this week directs Texas death row convict Robert Roberson to testify at a state House committee hearing on Friday at noon.
Since the state attorney general’s office filed a move late Thursday permitting the prison to ignore the subpoena pending a hearing to settle the motion, it is uncertain whether the convicted man would be produced in person. A similar demand for a hearing with state lawmakers was also rejected by the agency in October.
Roberson must be transported by the Texas Department of Criminal Justice from his prison north of Houston to the state capitol in Austin for the next hearing.
“In addition to posing significant security risks, the subpoena is procedurally flawed and thus invalid as it was issued in violation of the House Rules, the Texas Constitution, and other applicable laws,” stated Attorney General Ken Paxton’s office in a statement released Thursday.
In October, Paxton stated that bringing Roberson before lawmakers raised safety issues, pointing to the absence of a state facility in the Austin area that might temporarily detain him. He could testify online, the state had claimed.
Given Roberson’s autism and lack of experience with technology, the House Committee on Criminal Jurisprudence responded by offering a compromise: its members could meet with Roberson while he is incarcerated. However, the meeting never happened.
On Wednesday, a representative for the Department of Criminal Justice stated that the agency “doesn’t have a comment at this time” regarding its willingness to comply with the most recent subpoena.
After the attorney general’s office contested the first subpoena, members of a House committee decided to issue a second one. Just hours before Roberson was scheduled to be executed on October 17, his execution was postponed due to a flurry of lawsuits triggered by the original subpoena, an unusual legal tactic. After claiming innocence for a long time, he would have been the first person in the country to be executed for a “shaken baby” death. In 2002, Nikki, his 2-year-old daughter, passed away.
Regarding a 2013 “junk science” rule that permits Texas prisoners to possibly contest convictions based on advancements in forensic technology, the members of the House committee stated that they still want Roberson to be able to testify in his case.
“Robert’s testimony will shed important light on some of the problems with our ‘junk science writ’ process, a legal procedure Texas lawmakers expected to provide reconsideration in cases like this one,” said a statement from committee member and Republican state representative Jeff Leach and chair Joe Moody, both of whom are Democrats. “His perspective will be especially valuable as a person on the autism spectrum whose neurodivergence profoundly influenced both his case and his access to justice on appeal.”
The Texas Supreme Court backed with state officials last month, ruling that although lawmakers could not successfully stop an execution by using their subpoena power, committee members could nevertheless force Roberson to appear.
No new date for execution has been assigned by the attorney general’s office.
With one accusing the other of “misrepresenting” facts that resulted in his conviction for his daughter’s death and issuing their own reports in recent weeks refuting each other’s assertions, the lawmakers and Paxton have sparred publicly over Robinson’s case.
Roberson’s defense claims that recent knowledge of so-called shaken infant syndrome demonstrates that other medical issues can be factors in a child’s death, as they believe it was in Nikki’s. Doctors and law enforcement had swiftly concluded that Nikki’s death was caused by a violent shaking event.
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