State lawmakers to Ken Paxton: ‘We won’t give up’ on Robert Roberson case

A bipartisan group of Texas the state representatives speak later Attorney General Ken Paxton criticized the lawmakers for the defense of a death row inmate.

Robert Roberson was scheduled to be executed last week for the 2002 murder of his daughter, Nikki, in East Texas.

That execution was stopped so that Roberson can testify before members of the Texas House Committee on Criminal Jurisprudence.

Paxton accused state Rep. Joe Moody, an El Paso Democrat who chairs the committee, and state Rep. Jeff Leach, a Republican, of lying about the details of the case.

The General Prosecutor’s Office released the original autopsy report and one affidavit from the medical examinerwhich says Roberson’s daughter died of blunt force injuries and that he had a history of abuse.

Roberson’s team claims the attorney general’s office is doubling down on “grotesque misinterpretations” of Roberson’s case and ignoring new evidence and testimony.

On Friday morning, state lawmakers called the OAG report “misleading and, in large part, simply untrue.”

The 16-page response directly addresses the claims made in the OAG report and details the evidence and questions that were raised in Roberson’s case.

“We know that the laws our legislature created to correct these problems did not work as intended for Robert and people like him. That’s why we’re here and why we won’t give up,” the letter reads.

The response was signed by bipartisan Chairs Moody and Leach and Vice Chairs Rhetta Bowers (D-Garland) and Lacey Hull (R-Houston) of the Criminal Justice Reform Caucus.

While the legal battle is ongoing, Roberson has not been given a new execution date.

He also has yet to testify before the committee because of a legal dispute over his speaking in person to Zoom.

Roberson’s case drew national attention.

Roberson would be the first person in the US to be executed for a murder conviction related to a diagnosis of shaken baby syndrome.