By
KAYLA GUO/The Texas Tribune
Texas death row inmate Robert Roberson will not petition for clemency ahead of his scheduled execution in three weeks and will instead focus on obtaining a new trial in his capital murder conviction, his lawyer said Wednesday.Roberson was convicted in 2003 for the death of his 2-year-old daughter, Nikki, who was diagnosed with shaken baby syndrome. Roberson has maintained his innocence over the two decades he has spent on death row, arguing that scientific evidence developed since his conviction invalidates Nikki’s diagnosis and shows that she died from chronic illness — not from being shaken so violently that she died, as prosecutors claimed at Roberson’s trial.Roberson, 58, is scheduled to be executed on Oct. 16. His deadline to submit an application for clemency with the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles is Thursday, 21 days before his execution date.
Under Texas law, a majority of the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles must recommend clemency before the governor may grant it. Clemency in a capital case could mean a commutation of the sentence to life in prison and a reprieve of the execution, but would not affect the conviction.
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