Texas attorney general issues damning statement on death row inmate as activists plead for his life

Texas’ attorney general has hit back at state lawmakers after they succeeded in delaying the execution of a man on death row for killing his two-year-old daughter.

Ken Paxton issued a statement after the execution of Robert Roberson, 57, was postponed following an 11-hour effort by lawmakers to overturn his death sentence.

Roberson would die by lethal injection following his conviction for killing his toddler daughter, Nikki Curtis, at his home in Palestine, Texas.

He was convicted in 2002, with investigators blaming the now-discredited shaken baby syndrome (SBS).

On Wednesday, Paxton released a letter supporting the original conviction and condemning Roberson’s attorneys.

The letter included Curtis’ autopsy, statements from witnesses at the trial, and claims from a cellmate that Roberson had sexually abused his daughter.

A bipartisan group of 86 Texas lawmakers has urged clemency for Roberson, citing “voluminous new scientific evidence” that casts doubt on his guilt.

Paxton emphasized his guilt and accused the bipartisan commission, which was instrumental in delaying the execution, of using “extrajudicial stunts” to stop it.

The letter directly challenges claims by Roberson’s attorneys and the group of lawmakers that Curtis did not die as a result of SBS.

They believe the young girl’s cause of death may have been misdiagnosed, claiming she was chronically ill and had a high fever.

Paxton’s letter claims that an emergency room nurse who testified at the trial said Curtis “had a handprint on her face and the back of her skull was mushy.”

It says family members reported Roberson was physically abusive and had hit Curtis and also previously hit her with a board or paddle.

He also says Roberson told a former cellmate, Ryan Lodygowski, that he “put his penis in the baby’s mouth.”

According to Lodygowski, Roberson said he hit his daughter in the back of the head with his hand and then dropped her on her head.

Paxton wrote: ‘A coalition of activists and state lawmakers are interfering with the justice system in unprecedented ways in an effort to delay or prevent Roberson’s execution.

“They have attempted to mislead the public by falsely claiming that Roberson was wrongly convicted through ‘junk science’ regarding shaken baby syndrome.

“Despite these one-sided, extrajudicial stunts that attempt to cover up the facts and rewrite his past, the truth remains.”

Despite Paxton’s damning statement, Roberson’s defense team issued a rebuttal saying it was a case of SBS for which he was convicted.

His attorney Gretchen Sween said, “Again, all you have to do is look at the transcripts of the trial itself – it was a shocked baby case from the beginning of jury selection all the way to the end.”

Other points made in their 27-page rebuttal say the autopsy, medical examiner and witness reports were flawed, falsified or refuted.

Brian Wharton, the lead detective in Roberson’s conviction, has come forward in recent times and now believes he was completely wrong.

He also released a statement saying that Paxton’s claims of sexual abuse are unfounded and unreliable.

Wharton wrote, “As a detective in Palestine, Texas, I was very familiar with these types of ‘confessions’.

‘That such material is irresponsibly brought to attention and treated as truthful information saddens me deeply.

“The source of this information in 2002, Ryan Lodygowski, was in frequent trouble with the law and was never worthy of trust.

‘In my view he was such a clearly unreliable informant that I would not have had a conversation with him.’

Travis County Judge Jessica Mangrum had his execution blocked so he could testify before the Texas Legislature.

The Legislature issued a subpoena for Roberson’s testimony the day before his execution, and Mangrum approved a temporary restraining order. Roberson’s testimony has since been postponed.

Prosecutors — and the jury — determined at the time that Curtis did not die from a fall, but from being shaken to death by her father.

But in the years since, doctors have moved away from assigning shaken baby syndrome (SBS) as the cause of death.

The scientist who proposed it even admitted that it was used to “put innocent people in jail” and warned in 2012 “we have gone seriously off the rails.”

Roberson was given custody of Nikki by her maternal grandparents after her mother, who remains unnamed, was denied custody at the hospital after her birth.

In the week before her death, Nikki had been ill and showed up at a local emergency room where she was prescribed Phenergan and sent home.

After her condition did not improve, doctors again prescribed her more Phenergan and codeine, an opioid that is now banned for use in children under 18.

The next night she went to sleep next to her father, who woke up to find her unconscious.

Roberson was on parole at the time of his daughter’s death, with prior convictions for burglary, theft and parole violation.

Sween said his autism spectrum disorder, which was only diagnosed in 2018, was also not taken into account and contributed to his arrest and conviction.

During the medical crisis involving his daughter, Roberson “stopped and his external lack of affect was judged as a lack of caring,” Sween said.