Man due to be executed tonight after 20+yrs on death row.

[wasapi]

According to The Guardian, Robert Roberson was scheduled to be executed in 2hrs. He was charged with killing his 2yr old by shaking her. While I know this is a real and horrific event that does happen, he is the first to be charged and convicted.

However. Almost all evidence regarding the child's health was not entered. She had problems since the beginning, and he took her to 30 doctors and ER's in her short lifetime. The man is very autistic, and 'didn't react the way he should.' But the child had pneumonia and several other infections. She also had been diagnosed with a seizure disorder.

Now a committee of more than 80 Texas lawmakers, at least 30 republicans, have intervened. He now has a temporary reprieve, but prosecutors are pushing for it to proceed. Soon.

We shall see.

 

[theprestige]

Deadly insanity doesn't sway me much, compared to other forms of deadliness.

A dog that bites out of animal instinct gets put down. We expect more of humans. A human who kills out of a deficit of human reasoning is no better than an animal. Put down a violent dog, put down a violent human who reasons like a dog in their violence.

What's the alternative? You'll house and rehabilitate these human animals? No? Then why should anyone else?

 

[PitPat]

The conviction was for murder by shaken baby. To my understanding it was based on a theory that was controversial theory and still is and under more scrutiny. Experts disagree on that.

It's not like that was part of a larger crime. It was that alone, to my knowledge.

I get that when a baby dies, it's a visceral feeling, and somebody has to be to blamed.

Hell, let's even say that the baby was shaken so hard to kill him. At worst for him it would be 2nd degree, and not eligible for death penalty. Unless it came out that it was somehow believably premeditated.

Then again, we're talking about Texas here.

 

[theprestige]

The conviction was for murder by shaken baby. To my understanding it was based on a theory that was controversial theory and still is and under more scrutiny. Experts disagree on that.

It's not like that was part of a larger crime. It was that alone, to my knowledge.

I get that when a baby dies, it's a visceral feeling, and somebody has to be to blamed.

Hell, let's even say that the baby was shaken so hard to kill him. At worst for him it would be 2nd degree, and not eligible for death penalty. Unless it came out that it was somehow believably premeditated.

Then again, we're talking about Texas here.

Right. Those barbaric Texans, looking to execute someone who shook a baby to death. Such a common mistake, that any sane human being might make from time to time. No harm, no foul, says PitPat.

 

[PitPat]

Right. Those barbaric Texans, looking to execute someone who shook a baby to death. Such a common mistake, that any sane human being might make from time to time. No harm, no foul, says PitPat.

This kind of demonstrates my point about knee-jerk emotional responses.

Texas juries are comprised of Texan citizens. It's a conservative state - by transitive properties those jurors may want some retribution.

But we're not talking about that. It's the law that only premeditated murder is punishable by death. Is there any credible evidence it was?

 

[marting]

A state judge issued a temporary restraining order to stop Robert's execution. Unclear how long it will last.

 

[Chris_Halkides]

How sound is a diagnosis of shaken baby syndrome

From a portion of an abstract of a 2009 law review article: "New scientific research has cast doubt on the forensic significance of this triad, thereby undermining the foundations of thousands of SBS convictions. Outside the United States, this scientific evolution has prompted systemic reevaluations of the prosecutorial paradigm. In contrast, our criminal justice system has failed to absorb the latest scientific knowledge."

The Texas Tribune just published an article on this topic. The author wrote, "This controversial medical diagnosis and disputed legal theory has divided courts, doctors, lawyers and law enforcement, with some calling it “junk science” and others continuing to embrace it as key to identifying and stopping child abuse...At least 34 people convicted based on a shaken baby syndrome diagnosis have been exonerated, according to the National Registry of Exonerations." Waney Squier wrote Chapter 4 of the 2017 book Forensic Science Reform; this would be a good place to continue an in-depth look into the question of the soundness of this diagnosis. There is also a 2018 book on this topic.

The Innocence Project wrote, "Although no evidence or testing ever supported the connection between these symptoms and supposed SBS, by 2001, the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) published a position paper — which is not a scientific, peer-reviewed study — stating that violent shaking and “shaken baby syndrome” should be presumed whenever these three symptoms are observed...a doctor prescribed Phenergan, a potent drug that now carries an FDA black-box warning against being prescribed to children of Nikki’s age and with her condition." Phenergan is a trade name for promethazine, which is "contraindicated in children under two years of age due to the risk of potentially fatal respiratory depression."

 

[wasapi]

Yes, in the past few moments, he was given a TRO from the DP, for now. This is giving me nightmares because this was such a chronically ill child. Yet he may still face the DP.

 

[psionl0]

Right. Those barbaric Texans, looking to execute someone who shook a baby to death. Such a common mistake, that any sane human being might make from time to time. No harm, no foul, says PitPat.

By what logic is second degree murder equivalent to "no harm no foul"?

 

[Chris_Halkides]

Promethazine and infants or young children

I just found a 2013 article on Promethazine at Biochemistry Research International by Cantisani and coauthors. They wrote in part, "Side effects usually reported are severe breathing problems or death in child younger than 2 years old...Respiratory depression, sleep apnoea, and sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) have occurred in a number of infants or young children who were receiving usual doses of promethazine [19–23]."

Whether this creates reasonable doubt or not is a good question. I know what my answer would be.

 

[wasapi]

I just found a 2013 article at Biochemistry Research International by Cantisani and coauthors. They wrote in part, "Side effects usually reported are severe breathing problems or death in child younger than 2 years oldRespiratory depression, sleep apnoea, and sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) have occurred in a number of infants or young children who were receiving usual doses of promethazine [19–23]."

Whether this creates reasonable doubt or not is a good question. I know what my answer would be.

,

As I recall, she was diagnosed with sleep apeana and was the cause of some of the ER visits. She was diagnosed with a seizure disorder, and I know from personal experience what that can do to a person. It has caused several trips to the hospital.

 

[shemp]

Right. Those barbaric Texans, looking to execute someone who shook a baby to death. Such a common mistake, that any sane human being might make from time to time. No harm, no foul, says PitPat.

Except that now, with what has been learned since his trial, we can't be sure that he did shake the baby to death. I don't know whether he did or not, but if there is reasonable doubt, let's find out the truth.

 

[Samson]

Stay of execution

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/world/to...-shaken-baby-case/EWKGXO2YYBHEDEFJERXYF6RISU/


"But the Texas Supreme Court temporarily stayed the execution following an appeal from Texas lawmakers who issued a subpoena to Roberson so he can testify before a House committee that is examining his conviction.

“If the sentence is carried out, the witness obviously cannot appear,” wrote Justice Evan Young."

 

[Chris_Halkides]

,

As I recall, she was diagnosed with sleep apeana and was the cause of some of the ER visits. She was diagnosed with a seizure disorder, and I know from personal experience what that can do to a person. It has caused several trips to the hospital.

Her health alone would give me pause, but the prescriptions for Promethazine adds greatly to my concerns.

 

[wasapi]

Thank you, Chris. I had not paid enough attention to that evidence, but I will.

 

[Roger Ramjets]

Except that now, with what has been learned since his trial, we can't be sure that he did shake the baby to death. I don't know whether he did or not, but if there is reasonable doubt, let's find out the truth.

Reasonable doubt should equal not guilty. But then actual child abusers could get away with it. Just think about how outraged that would make you feel! Better a hundred innocents get put to death than that.

 

[Chris_Halkides]

At Scientific American Jeff Kukucka wrote, "To support this theory, researchers cited cases in which a child displayed these symptoms and a caretaker confessed to shaking the child, which ostensibly confirmed the triad as a reliable way to diagnose abuse. There is no doubt that shaking a child can cause injuries, including those that comprise the shaken baby syndrome triad. Newer research, however, has shown that shaking is not the only way to cause those injuries: They can also result from an accidental “short fall” (e.g., falling off a bed) as well as from other medical causes (e.g., pneumonia, improper medication)—all of which were true of Roberson’s daughter. In fact, a 2024 study found that the injuries historically used to diagnose shaking are actually more likely to result from accidents than from shaking". The article also discusses cognitive bias as another problem in making a diagnosis of shaken baby syndrome.

The Texas Tribune reported, "Attorney General Ken Paxton, in a graphic press release Wednesday, insisted on Roberson’s guilt and accused the committee of pursuing 'eleventh-hour, one-sided, extrajudicial stunts that attempt to obscure the facts and rewrite his past.' The group of lawmakers, in return, blasted Paxton for publishing a 'misleading and in large part simply untrue' summation of Roberson’s case."

 

[Chris_Halkides]

CNN reported, "The Texas Supreme Court on Friday said the execution of a man convicted of murder in the 2002 death of his 2-year-old daughter could move forward, even as a state house committee seeks to subpoena the man for his testimony and its bipartisan members fight to spare his life." CNN continued, "The high court ruling suggested that courts had considered new evidence when they had not, [Roberson's attorney Gretchen] Sween said. 'Nobody’s looked at it.'

'If they don’t look at the new evidence and conclude that that justifies a new trial, we’re in a terrible predicament, but we’re certainly not giving up,' she told CNN." I am not sure how significant this is in terms of setting a date for his execution.