A Dallas County man convicted based on "shaken baby syndrome" was exonerated this month — 24 years after he was convicted.
Andrew Wayne Roark, 48, was found guilty of injuring his then-girlfriend's 13-month-old daughter in 1997.
But last month the Court of Criminal Appeals issued an opinion on the Roark case that said current medical and scientific research does not support the shaken baby syndrome theory. The decision became final this month.
Roark was represented by Gary Udashen with the Innocence Project of Texas, a nonprofit organization dedicated to "correcting past injustices." Udashen said the recognition of new science could prevent future convictions based on the shaken baby theory.
"Anybody in Texas who is in prison or has a conviction for shaken baby syndrome, even if they're out of prison, if their conviction was based upon this, the Roark opinion from the Court of Criminal Appeals gives them a strong basis to come in and challenge their conviction now," he said.
At the time, state prosecutors cited "shaken baby syndrome" as the cause for the girl's injury. The theory was also used in the case against death row inmate Robert Roberson, whose execution was paused last month.
According to a statement from the Dallas County District Attorneys Office on Monday , Roark was caring for his girlfriend’s 13-month-old child on July 16, 1997, when he later discovered the child unconscious that afternoon at home. After undergoing examination, the statement continued, it was medically determined that the one-year-old had been violently shaken and Roark was charged with injury to a child.
He was convicted in March 2000 of injury to a child and sentenced to 35 years in prison.
Roark was released on bond in December 2012 after the DA's office agreed to a new trial because of changes in science and new case law. And the case was reviewed by the Dallas County Criminal District Attorney Office's Conviction Integrity unit.
“There exists no evidence in which we could support a conviction and believe Mr. Roark is actually innocent,” Dallas County Criminal District Attorney John Creuzot said in Monday's statement. “We firmly believe would the same facts and circumstances occur today, Mr. Roark would be acquitted of any charges brought against him, therefore he should enjoy the presumption of innocence.”
The DA's office reports that Roark's case is the 47th exoneration in Dallas County since 2001.
This story was corrected to say the child was injured.
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