On October 9, 2025, the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals (CCA) granted a stay of execution to Robert Roberson, an innocent man who faced execution on October 16, 2025, for a crime that never occurred.
Roberson, a Special Education student when he dropped out of school after the 9th grade and a person with Autism Spectrum Disorder, has spent more than 20 years on death row in Texas. He was nearly executed last year on October 17, 2024, but his execution was stayed when a bipartisan group of Texas lawmakers acted to prevent an irreparable injustice. Concerns about Roberson’s innocence have generated a groundswell of support in Texas, nationally, and internationally.
The CCA remanded Roberson’s case to the district court to consider whether his case warrants relief for the reasons set forth in the CCA’s 2024 decision in Ex Parte Roark.
That case, like Roberson’s, involved a conviction predicated on the now-debunked “Shaken Baby Syndrome” hypothesis. The CCA granted relief to Roark based on its conclusion that the SBS theory—presented at trial through the same child abuse pediatrician and medical examiner who testified at Roberson’s 2003 trial—was not scientifically sound.
The Court’s order means that Mr. Roberson will not be executed on October 16.
Here is a statement from Gretchen Sween, attorney for Robert Roberson:
“We are relieved and grateful that members of the CCA appreciate the parallels between Andrew Roark’s case and Robert Roberson’s, and the case is being sent back to the district court for further proceedings. The issue will be whether the decision granting relief to the now-exonerated Andrew Roark requires relief for Robert as well. Deciding that issue will, of necessity, require considering the mountain of medical records, scientific studies, expert opinions, and other evidence that proves his very ill little girl died from natural and accidental causes, not shaking or other abuse. Robert adored Nikki, whose death was a tragedy, a horror compounded by Robert’s wrongful conviction that devastated his whole family. We are confident that an objective review of the science and medical evidence will show there was no crime.”
– Gretchen Sween, attorney for Robert Roberson, October 9, 2025
The CCA’s ruling granting Roberson a stay of execution and remanding the case to the district court can be accessed here.
Read the rest of the press release issued by the legal team.