Texas inmate could be first U.S. execution for case of "shaken baby" death
Texas inmate could be first U.S. execution for case of "shaken baby" death
Robert Roberson is scheduled to be put to death Oct. 17. His case — based on a syndrome shrouded in legal uncertainty — has led the original detective to call for his release.
Robert Roberson is scheduled to be put to death Oct. 17. His case — based on a syndrome shrouded in legal uncertainty — has led the original detective to call for his release.
A condemned man in Texas is set to die this month in what would be the country's first execution for "shaken baby syndrome," a scrutinized diagnosis that has been successfully challenged in some criminal cases.
After he filed a clemency petition with the state ahead of his execution, which is scheduled for Oct. 17, Robert Roberson told NBC News anchor Lester Holt in an interview airing Thursday that he is urging Texas Gov. Greg Abbott to pardon him and "let me go home."
"Look at the support I've got, Mr. Governor, and I'm just hoping, praying that you do the right thing," said Roberson, who was convicted of capital murder in his 2-year-old daughter's 2002 death.
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I don't think the state should be executing people. Destroying the life of an innocent child intentionally demands a long stay in prison until you are no longer a threat. I see non accidental trauma all the time at my job and it's so infuriating to see. Infants with all of their bones broken and brain bleeds all at different stages of healing, there is no excuse for it.
On the other hand: seeing the mental state of some parents during their children's infancy, I would not consider them fully responsible.
Being under constant stress, sleep privation, constantly on edge because of jobs, money, children's needs, relationships, etc. brings some parents to the brink of collapse - and some even a bit further.
I'd really be interested in studies on how this actually happens. Are the parents really just shitty people or normal people put in an impossible situation? Probably bit of both, but at least the latter group can be reduced by societal support.
Shaken baby syndrome has been challenged in courts, and rightfully so.
Over the past two decades, there has been a revolution in the understanding of internal pediatric head conditions, which has shown that numerous naturally occurring illnesses can affect a child in the manner previously attributed to SBS. My own extensive research was key to the evolution of the science and to discrediting SBS.
According to the National Registry of Exonerations, at least 30 people served years or decades in prison after convictions involving the SBS theory before being exonerated. But the law, in many cases, has not kept up with the science.
As an expecting father, I hate you a bit for bringing up yet another fear of fucking up.
I have 3 kids and it's been my experience that the parents who are worried they might mess up tend to be the better parents, because they care enough to worry. It's the ones who think they have it in the bag that tend to fuck up.
You'll do fine
at least the latter group can be reduced by societal support
OMG Socialist! (Hisses and holds up crossed fingers to ward off the decent human being)