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A new execution date has been requested for Robert Roberson, the East Texas man who last year narrowly avoided death after Texas lawmakers intervened.
The Texas Attorney General's office has taken over the Roberson case from the Anderson County District Attorney and has requested Roberson be immediately added to the death row calendar.
Roberson's attorney Gretchen Sween says the case is now before the Texas court of criminal appeals and the AG's move is unheard of.
"This is totally unprecedented situation. It is not something that is authorized by state law or ordinary practice. It is just completely anomalous," she told Texas Public Radio.
Roberson was convicted in 2002 for the shaken baby death of his chronically ill toddler daughter. The case drew international attention when evidence showed she didn't die from being shaken but from pneumonia.
Last year, on October 17, Roberson avoided being put to death when Texas lawmakers subpoenaed him. The AG's office is requesting his new death date be October 16 —almost one year later to the day.
On Tuesday, Sween and the Roberson legal team filed an objection to the Attorney General's request asserting numerous reasons why no execution should be scheduled including evidence of his actual innocence.
"Anyone who has looked at the case and studied the evidence will see that this man never got a fair trial," Sween said.
Roberson's application for habeas corpus relief, which presents a wealth of new evidence supporting his actual innocence, is presently pending before the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals.
Sween said "there is no justification for the Attorney General's relentless effort to kill an innocent human being—and no state law or moral law that authorizes seeking an execution date under these circumstances."
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