Philadelphia Front Page News Justice News Report: Innocence Project Story - Robert Roberson, an Autistic Father Wrongfully Convicted and Sentenced to Death, Applies for Clemency (As written by Innocence Staff, New York)

Philadelphia Front Page News Justice News Report: Innocence Project Story -  Robert Roberson, an Autistic Father Wrongfully Convicted and Sentenced to Death, Applies for Clemency (As written by Innocence Staff, New York)

Above: 12/19/23, Livingston, Texas: Robert Roberson photographed through plexiglass at TDCJ Polunsky Unit. Ilana Panich-Linsman for The Innocence Project.

 

Medical and scientific experts, bipartisan Texas lawmakers, advocates for parental rights, autism organizations, best-selling novelist John Grisham, lead detective Brian Wharton, innocence groups, the Texas Catholic Conference of Bishops, and dozens of others urge Texas Pardons Board to recommend, and Gov. Abbott to Grant, clemency.

 

Today, 34 eminent scientists and doctors, a bipartisan group of 84 Texas legislators, 8 advocates for parental rights, 8 organizations that advocate for people with Autism and their families, faith leaders, innocence advocacy groups, former judges, 70 attorneys who have represented people wrongfully accused of child abuse, and former lead detective Brian Wharton, among others, filed letters in support of Robert Roberson’s clemency petition to the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles and Governor Greg Abbott. (Exhibits 7, 15-23.)

 

The clemency petition, filed today, can be accessed, here

 

Letters from hundreds of supporters, filed as exhibits, here.

 

Mr. Roberson’s petition describes the new medical and scientific evidence that his jury never heard showing that no homicide occurred. Mr. Roberson’s two-year-old, chronically ill daughter, Nikki, actually died of severe viral and bacterial pneumonia that medical professionals missed in 2002, not because of any abuse. Her illness progressed to sepsis and then septic shock, a process likely precipitated by the dangerous respiratory-suppressing medications she was prescribed during her last days, all of which has now been established by detailed reports from highly qualified medical specialists.

 

No court has been willing to consider three new expert reports showing how Nikki died of pneumonia, proof that Mr. Roberson is innocent of any crime.

 

The power of Mr. Roberson’s innocence claim is attracting diverse and widespread support, including from best-selling novelist John Grisham, who said, “This isn’t a case where the system got the wrong guy, but rather one where no crime took place at all. Something must be done to stop Robert’s execution. Governor Abbott and the Board of Pardons and Paroles can prevent an irreparable injustice by granting him clemency.”

 

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