All evidence points to Robert Roberson's innocence. Texas still plans to execute him.

[WhiskeyGrinder]

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2024/10/16/robert-roberson-texas-death-row-innocence-claims/75490456007/

Robert Leslie Roberson remains scheduled to die by lethal injection on Thursday despite all evidence indicating that he was wrongfully convicted for the death of his 2-year-old daughter Nikki in 2002. At the time, investigators saw what they wanted to see: shaken baby syndrome. In reality, little Nikki had pneumonia in both lungs, she had pre-existing conditions for which she was prescribed opioids that are now banned for children, and she had undiagnosed sepsis.

That's according to Brian Wharton, the former police detective who led the investigation and subsequent arrest of Roberson. Wharton, now an ordained minister in the United Methodist Church, spoke with USA TODAY's The Excerpt podcast in a candid conversation about errors in the case and what should be the proper course for Texas.

"I was wrong. I didn't see Robert. I did not hear Robert," Wharton said. "I can tell you now, he is a good man. He is a kind man. He is a gracious man. And he did not do what the state of Texas and I have accused him of."

(snip)

The Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles is weighing whether to recommend clemency for Roberson, and Republican Gov. Greg Abbott could intervene.

[walkingman]

1. How do you spell Texas - A S S H O L E S

[Easterncedar]

2. The death penalty is barbaric

That the system, OUR system, can knowingly choose to murder an innocent person is beyond horrifying.
That’s how much we are a Christian, pro-life nation.

[haele]

6. My opinion of the Death Penalty? I would rather a guilty person spend

Life incarcerated than an innocent person be killed.

The guilty person is still out of the world not causing more pain to others, but the innocent person is still alive to be freed when the truth comes out.

A life can easily be taken, but it can never be given back once taken.

Blood lust is not justice. IMO, it's an overdose of endorphins that often occurs to people who are in a state of hurt shock (part of the fight part of a fight or flight reaction); in a similar manner, it's a predatory reaction - a thrill - that sociopaths seek out.
I'll give one guess how the guy currently sitting at the Texas governor's desk feels when it comes to state executions.

Haele

[Solly Mack]

3. K&R

[-misanthroptimist]

4. Would it be too much to ask the courts...

...to stop states from murdering people who are innocent of the charges against them? It doesn't seem like it would take much effort.

[TwilightZone]

5. One problem in states like TX is that convictions are incredibly difficult to overturn.

Once a conviction is handed down, the appeals process is rarely about guilt or innocence. It's often more about procedure and law and "Texas Justice" as Abbott calls it. We do have a "junk science" law that could help overturn the conviction, but Abbott is hellbent on executing as many people as possible.

[haele]

8. That's because anyone not in Abbot or Paxton's buddy circle

Is automatically guilty of something.
That's a common Nationalist/Dominionist viewpoint.
If you aren't part of the group of elders or elite, your worth decreases by your usefulness to the elders until you're considered vermin unbelievers or political opponents that can be killed for sport - "some people just need killin' ".
The benefits of the rule of law only apply to those in the in-group.

Haele

[Blue Full Moon]

7. Did it before

They used a so called expert for the trial. The experts opinion was debunked and they murdered the man anyway.
I have heard several republicans say that even if a person is proved to be innocent that they were found guilty and the sentence must be carried out regardless.

[Disaffected]

9. IIRC that is not an uncommon belief which was also held by Antonin Scalia BTW.

The rational apparently is that overturning a conviction in the light of new evidence only would, ironically, bring into doubt the legitimacy of the justice system, this having to be avoided no matter what the cost.

[Blue Full Moon]

10. Well guess that would work well for a dictator

[Disaffected]

11. Yes but I think it had its roots

way back in English Common Law so it's not all that radical in an historic basis. IIRC generally the only grounds for appeal of a conviction lay in procedural or judicial errors, not in evidence.