HUNTSVILLE, Texas — A Texas man whose execution was halted after a last-ditch maneuver won't testify in person before lawmakers after all.
Robert Roberson was expected to testify before a state House panel on Monday, four days after he had been scheduled to die by lethal injection. Instead, it was announced that he would not appear following objections to transporting him from death row in Huntsville.
Editor's note: The above video originally aired on Oct. 18.
Last week, Roberson had been scheduled to become the first person in the U.S. executed over a murder conviction linked to a diagnosis of shaken baby syndrome.
Some Republicans and Democrats on the House panel believe Roberson didn't kill his 2-year-old daughter Nikki Curtis in 2002. The lawmakers and experts argued that he was convicted on faulty, outdated science.
The lead detective in the Anderson County case also says Roberson was wrongly convicted. Brian Wharton said they weren't aware then that Roberson has autism, which would have explained his lack of emotion at the hospital.
"He's an innocent man and we are very close to killing him," Wharton said.
The lawmakers issued an unprecedented subpoena for Roberson to testify at a hearing and the Texas Supreme Court issued a stay minutes before the execution last Thursday.
"I was a nervous wreck," Roberson's sister, Jennifer, said after the decision was announced. "He was comforting me, telling me to be obedient to God, stay strong, keep the faith, keep the hope. He's always been like that. He's always the strong one."
On Monday, Republican Gov. Greg Abbott's office said the Texas Supreme Court should throw out the subpoena, writing that the House committee has “stepped out of line” in their first public statement on the case.
Democratic state Rep. Joe Moody, the chairman of a state House committee that led efforts to stop the execution, said at the start of the highly anticipated hearing that Roberson likely would not appear but that lawmakers still hoped to do so soon.
The Texas Attorney General's Office had told lawmakers that Roberson would only appear by videoconference, which Moody said would be “poorly suited” for Roberson because he is autistic.
“That doesn’t mean Robert won’t testify at all,” said Moody, without saying when Roberson might testify or how.
Once Roberson testifies to lawmakers, prosecutors could seek a new execution date at any time, according to Gretchen Sween, one of his attorneys.
During Roberson's trial, prosecutors argued the infant's death was caused by serious head trauma from being violently shaken back and forth. Roberson's attorneys say that the bruising on Curtis' body was likely due to complications with severe pneumonia and not child abuse.