Man with autism faces execution Oct. 17, 2024

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League_Girl
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18 Oct 2024, 3:26 pm

Sweetleaf wrote:

Fnord wrote:

123autism wrote:

Robert Roberson. Are you familiar with this story?

Yes.

Robert Leslie Roberson III (born November 10, 1966) is an American convicted murderer currently on death row for the murder of his two-year-old daughter in 2002. Roberson was reported to have assaulted his daughter severely and caused her death, and he was therefore convicted of capital murder and sentenced to death in 2003, and had lost his appeals since. (Wikipedia)

Autism should never be used to mitigate a murder conviction, nor should it ever be used as a "Get Out of Jail Free" card.

Yeah idk I have a hard time seeing how autism is an excuse for shaking a baby generally, unless they also had a severe mental disability to where they should not have been handed a baby in the first place because they aren't mentally there enough to know how to treat a baby I could see that being more on the parents but does not seem the case here. I have autism and met my boyfriends sisters baby and never once thought of picking her up and violently shaking her even though I don't really know how to interact with a baby I know you at least have to be very gentle with them and I think most autistic people know that. So does not seem like a valid excuse. Still I disagree with the death pentalty so I don't agree with that part I think they should just get life in prison, but yeah autism is not an excuse for that I don't think.

Lemme guess, they will blame it on meltdowns and say he didn't abuse his ex and two older kids and his daughter they saw he shook a couple times because "meltdowns" you know. :roll:

How many times have I see this arguement for why autistic people are not abusers when they are aggressive or put holes in walls or beat someone up?

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MatchboxVagabond
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18 Oct 2024, 4:45 pm

Sweetleaf wrote:

Fnord wrote:

123autism wrote:

Robert Roberson. Are you familiar with this story?

That's not really the relevant bit. The relevant bit is that they went after him due to having an "odd" reaction. And he allegedly admitted to it, but from what I read, it's unclear as to whether he actually believed it, or if it's the case of police tricking him into admitting something that he didn't do. And, quite honestly, that happens a lot more than it should to NTs. And it is something that we are somewhat more susceptible to than a typical person is.

What it all means, is that if the kid was shaken, that should have been charged as some form of child abuse. The actual death likely was separate from any abuse that may or may not have occurred and when the sentencing was done, it really shouldn't have involved consideration over the emotional response as it's not relevant given the real possibility that there wasn't even a crime to convict anybody of.

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18 Oct 2024, 9:12 pm

Robert Roberson, whose Texas execution was halted, may appear in person at legislative hearing

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Robert Roberson, the condemned man whose execution was halted late Thursday because of an unprecedented legal gambit by Texas lawmakers, is expected to appear in person Monday at a legislative hearing in Austin, his legal representatives said.

Roberson, who was set to become the first person in the U.S. to be executed for a “shaken baby” death, narrowly averted the execution chamber after the lawmakers, with only hours to spare, obtained a temporary restraining order from a district court judge that stopped the execution.

The lawmakers, members of a state House committee, had issued a subpoena late Wednesday for Roberson to testify in his case as it relates to a 2013 “junk science” law that allows Texas inmates to potentially challenge convictions based on advances in forensic science. The subpoena was issued to help buy more time for Roberson, who has bipartisan support.

Roberson, 57, has maintained his innocence in the 2002 death of his 2-year-old daughter, Nikki. At the time, doctors and law enforcement quickly concluded she was killed as a result of a violent shaking episode, leading to his conviction at trial, but Roberson’s defense says new understanding of so-called shaken baby syndrome shows that other medical conditions can be factors in a child’s death, as they believe it was in Nikki’s.

The Office of the Attorney General quickly appealed the district court judge’s temporary injunction to the state’s highest criminal court, which agreed with allowing Roberson’s execution to continue. But lawmakers then petitioned their case to the Texas Supreme Court late Thursday as the hours ticked down before midnight — when Roberson’s death warrant was set to expire.

The high court, which is currently made up of nine Republican-elected justices, ultimately agreed to a stay, or a halting of the execution, although it did not specify for how long, and ordered the lower court to move swiftly to resolve a separation-of-powers issue.

A spokesperson for the state Department of Criminal Justice said Friday that the agency will comply with the subpoena, without commenting on the logistics of Roberson’s potential in-person appearance before the Committee on Criminal Jurisprudence. Lawmakers have also suggested he could appear via video link.

State Rep. Brian Harrison, a Republican who helped to introduce the motion to subpoena Roberson, acknowledged Friday that although the execution was blocked, various issues remain at play.

opening
“We’re in novel and uncharted territory,” Harrison said. “We’re not in a day-by-day situation. We’re in an hour-by-hour and a minute-by-minute situation.”

Brian Wice, a Houston lawyer who specializes in appellate and post-conviction litigation, called the legal maneuvering to stop the execution “extraordinary” because it took the state Supreme Court, a last resort for civil cases and with limited criminal jurisdiction, to intervene.

He said that after Roberson testifies Monday, it will be up to the attorney general’s office to seek another death warrant, but the execution could be further delayed if the hearing results in some other legal filing with merit or Gov. Greg Abbott agrees to a 30-day reprieve. Abbott has not commented publicly about what, if anything, he plans to do.

On Thursday, the U.S. Supreme Court declined to intervene.

“By and large, Mr. Roberson is out of legal options,” Wice said. “At this point, the doors to the courthouse have essentially been locked.”

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21 Oct 2024, 4:38 pm

Robert Roberson testimony blocked after concerns about autism, technology

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Death row inmate Robert Roberson will not be testifying Monday in a hearing to the Texas House Committee on Judiciary and Civil Jurisprudence.

At the hearing Texas House Rep. Joe Moody announced the decision was made due to concerns about Roberson‘s autism. Other concerns involved Roberson’s lack of familiarity with modern technology.

Roberson, 57, of Palestine, was scheduled for execution on Oct. 17, but the process was interrupted by a Thursday night order from the Texas Supreme Court to stay Roberson’s execution. A committee from the Texas House of Representatives subpoenaed Roberson for testimony in a bid to keep him from being executed. The subpoena is regarding the new science behind so-called shaken baby syndrome and other factors in the case.

Gov. Greg Abbott has claimed the House committee “stepped out of line” when they interrupted proceedings, according to a letter submitted to the Supreme Court of Texas. The letter cites a Separation-of-Powers Clause in the Texas Constitution, which Abbott says gives the power to grant clemency in a capital case to the governor alone.

Abbott claims the committee’s actions had the effect of granting a reprieve by slowing the TDCJ from performing an execution.

“If the House committee...thinks itself entitled to testimony from a criminal on death row, a point which is not conceded, it could have done so without erasing the authority given exclusively to the governor,” the letter states. “Robert Roberson was convicted over two decades ago...in all that time, even when it was clear that Roberson’s execution date was nearing...the House committee could not trouble itself with seeking Roberson’s testimony. Only at the eleventh hour, when the Constitution empowers the governor to make the last move, did the House committee decide to violate the Separation-of-Powers Clause.”

On these grounds, Abbott has asked the Texas Supreme Court to dismiss the House committee’s petition, claiming there is no reason for delay since Abbott himself did not sign the subpoena that halted the execution.

Nonetheless, a hearing did take place Monday. A House representative said the committee isn’t interested in escalating division between the branches of government and wants to show they can work well together.

As many are well aware, there’s been a flurry of litigation in the Texas Supreme Court over the weekend,” Moody said. “The upshot of that is that a valid legal subpoena for Robert remains in effect. We could enforce that subpoena, but we didn’t issue the subpoena to create a constitutional crisis.”

The committee stated that a video conference would be poorly suited for Roberson.

“In the spirit of cooperation, we are in talks with the Attorney General’s office right now about ways their position can be addressed, while allowing our committee to hear Robert in person. I expect a quick resolution to these discussions,” said Moody.

This is the first time a death row case is being reviewed on the basis of disproven science, Representative Drew Darby said.

Despite the governor’s remarks on the validity of the subpoena, Representative Brian Harrison stated that the unprecedented move to halt the execution was the right choice.

“I firmly believe it was absolutely necessary given the extenuating circumstances in this case,” said Harrison. “I do not want my children to inherit a state where potentially innocent people may have their lives deprived of them by the government.”

The committee first called Dr. Phillip McGraw , most commonly known for his nationally recognized talk show “Dr. Phil”, who testified that Roberson wasn’t given a fair trial.

“I am 100 percent convinced that we are facing a miscarriage of justice here,” said Dr. Phil. “If we get this wrong, in a case like this, the death penalty could come under attack.”

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09 Nov 2024, 10:43 pm

Fnord wrote:

The undeniable truth is that he was convicted of killing a child. Any proof to the contrary should have been presented at his trial or on appeal. Either any such "proof" is irrelevant to the conviction, or it was poorly presented by his lawyers.

E

Exactly.

The jury has seen the evidence. We haven't.

I trust the jury to get it right and have full faith that they found the correct verdict.

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09 Nov 2024, 11:52 pm

It should be note that Roberson was not convicted for "shaken baby syndrome". My understanding is that the defense brought it up as some kind of perverted defense.

The medical examiner who examined the baby girl, Nikki, testified that she died from blunt force head injuries, not from being shaken. The other medical people agreed with her testimony. My understanding is that no defense witness ever testified that it was shaken baby syndrome.

Not only that, Nikki presented to the hospital with lacerations inside of her mouth, bruising to the left side and to the top of her head, trauma to the spine including bleeding of the spine, and trauma to the entire brain. This trauma caused her brain to shift inside of her skull, compressed her spinal cord, and impeded her breathing.

For those who think that the jury did not hear everything, you are probably right. If the jury had heard everything, it would have made their job a whole lot simpler. They might have been able to convict in 5 to 15 minutes in a single jury vote. I doubt that they were allowed to be told of Roberson's history of sexually abusing Nikki and another baby girl, both oral and vaginal. of whipping her for crying, of placing her in a red ant bed, of using a board and paddle on her, and of throwing her on the bed so hard that she bounced off and fell onto the floor.

Part of me wants to see him executed as soon as possible -- that evil twerp has forfeited any and all right to life. The other part of me wants him to live a long and miserable life in prison. The problem with that, however, is that some idiot do-gooders might release him and he can continue his reign of terror on some other babies.

The world will be better off when he is permanently removed from it.

I always hate when people think that they know more than the juries They didn't hear the evidence, but the jury did. If you don't trust the juries, that is because of you and your biases. Trust the jury to get it right.

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13 Nov 2024, 2:41 pm

kokopelli wrote:

Juries only get to make their decisions based on what evidence is admitted. And, the thing that really ought to be troubling is that it's not just the defense attorneys that want this fixed. Defense attorneys shouldn't be taking these cases on if they don't want their clients off as completely as possible.

The prosecuting attorneys generally have access to all of the information that could lead to a conviction and the defense attorneys will have that as well as possibly other information that the investigators didn't know to look for to help poke holes in the case.

The assumption that the jury has all the necessary information to know isn't one that's necessarily well-founded as good attorneys can often get evidenced tossed due to technicalities even if the evidence itself would otherwise allow for a more reliable verdict. It's how Michael Jackson won his court cases.

In this case, it's pretty clear that a new trial is needed at bare minimum. I get that it's uncomfortable for some people, but the innocence project does a pretty good job of outlining why a new trial really is needed and when even the lead detective on the case isn't convinced that a crime was committed that resulted in the death due to information that was not available at the time, you do have to question how the jury could get the right verdict without benefit of more modern information.

kokopelli
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13 Nov 2024, 7:33 pm

In most cases, I think that the juries are not allowed to hear evidence that is prejudicial as well as evidence that is not applicable to the charges.

Exactly what evidence did the jury hear that they should not have heard or that they didn't hear but should have heard?

Roberson's defense is basically, "I shook the baby so I didn't kill her". He may have shaken her, but that wouldn't account for head trauma caused by multiple blows to the head. He had a history of child abuse and he killed her. He needs to be held responsible for his crimes.

Unless there is something egregious in there, there should be no new trial. You shouldn't be able to get a new trial just because you don't like the verdict.

Ursula
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13 Nov 2024, 8:59 pm

Having a child means recognising they dependent on you, lot of responsibility. What is just said sound right, but honestly need to be around children and family to determine if you are ready. I remember one of our uncles was impatient and sound of crying baby caused him to shake the Cribb, so women never burdened him with child issues as he was bread winner in those days, when women needed husband permission to open bank account.
Society should stop pressuring people to have family, first enough people and if they can keep busy work/hobbies then maybe family life isn't for everyone.
Watching a program where this lady found out about some of injections used on death penalty. Obviously chemicals from Asia that USA government had found, first anethesis the prisoner, so it looks peaceful while other chemical causes lungs to fill with fluid, and prisoner drowns to death.
I haven't decided opinion, suppose the death injection can't be painless, should it?

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13 Nov 2024, 10:33 pm

I seriously doubt that Roberson had the baby because of family pressure to have a baby.

123autism
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13 Nov 2024, 10:52 pm

I started this thread because I was inclined to believe he was innocent based
on the brief amount of information I learned.
I haven't taken a deep look at his case and it seems some in this thread
are claiming he is responsible for beating his daughter and abusing her in other ways.

I really do not know what to believe and whether these claims are true.

I hope that if he is innocent he is granted freedom.

I don't know what exactly to think anymore.

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14 Nov 2024, 2:52 am

123autism wrote:

I think that it is often the case that the news stories are often slanted by the reporter in the direction they want it to go. In this case, it might not even be that -- the lawyers trying to get him out of prison have no problems slanting everything in their direction.

What is most important is that the jury did hear the evidence and they found him guilty.

If we can't trust the juries, then we should just get rid of the courts and police and never hold anyone responsible for their criminal actions.

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14 Nov 2024, 2:58 am

Fnord wrote:

123autism wrote:

Robert Roberson. Are you familiar with this story?

Agreed. Just because someone is autistic does not mean they are excused from anything and certainly not any crime. Living in peace in one's own space is one thing, causing problems for other human beings is another.

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14 Nov 2024, 9:44 pm

I'm not for death penalty, I believe people must face God.

If he does have autism....
Mental health facility is worst jail in my autistic mind, and anti-psychotics are awful.

If he goes to jail the downside is rape, but other than that the real world isn't a nice place for most autistic spectrum anyway, if I was stripped or worse I'd rather commit crime and go jail, don't earn money not that I'd do that for money, so in jail autistic woman get rapped less, it's better. So depends on your life, life I slave days was awful, if you don't have money still not having a life, anyway.

I've being so mad few times with in-laws I tell you they could turn Brady's into Manson's. I was admitted to hospital for melt downs and how these stupid people messed up my kids in 2 months was unbelievable. Then put baby in walking ring and every lazy stupid thing one could think of. I've wanted to rip out my mom-in-law hair and other things, it's insane to think the law allowed NT garbages to lie and act innocent and leave my child with hip dysplasia whilst I was in state care for loosing my cool over narcisstic, two faced evil. Even if I got medical aid, I'd need a second policy for excess, he'd be confined to bed for six months, given surgery was successful. They walk free, no care in the world.

I am considering that in Switzerland youthenasia is legal, I wonder if it includes mental health or autism. I suffered many years ND I now watch my son depressed as others are sports stars, he has no friends, worry about work. Bit off topic, wonder if youthenasia injection is painless?

Children can be difficult, autistic children faced torture in ABA and I'm sad to say I won't leave my kids with my dad as he was from old school, he would be capable of killing someone in ABA who wasn't responsive. As a woman I'm like my mother, I leave people to have own space, don't force or change.
I knew lady that was under pressure and had colic baby she said she rocked him whold night and eventually wanted throw him down stairs, but didn't. I understand her more than him and that family.

They say diversity works, sometimes if people open minded. Mostly not, so for some of us youthenasia can end suffering, don't have autism only town to escape.
Not sure if what I said made sense

Last edited by Ursula on 14 Nov 2024, 10:55 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Ursula
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14 Nov 2024, 10:34 pm

I need to make peace with how he and his family ruined my children, even his drug use and neglect hasn't brought a sentence in South Africa, if this was USA I'd feel justice was served. I've gotten to point of being able to describe what did to him, they over showered love in walking ring so his human receptors for love are twisted, to this day he makes funny movements with his legs when he laughs. I cringe and don't want to say anything. If and how I could reach judge to explain how educated yet stupid he and his family is, how much we suffered and how I blame myself for not seeking to take matters into my own hands, ensure his legs broken to spend rest of his days thinking about this.
I'm not being a troll, but if my mother in law went through windscreen she could have type of autism that teach her values of importance, but I'm still waiting for God to sort them out. I can't appear before judge claiming that stupidity is a crime, that such idiots should never have bearing on my life. She still have these long nails that I called dragon claws, and used a maid so suddenly no money and left my kids in filth, tried to convince everyone I was insane until the truth came out.

Rape I don't like, but physical torture is tolerable however emotional abuse to me is worst kind of mistake autistic children need to try understand, in narcisstic dynamics.

The truth is we law abiding people come forward, we appear in court for summons. The real criminals dont, they walk free.

Last edited by Ursula on 14 Nov 2024, 10:59 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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14 Nov 2024, 10:46 pm

123autism wrote:

@JamesW

Yes he did post more.

I didn't share a lot of info about this.. granted I only came across this story the other day.

From what I gather (from watching an NBC interview where Lestor Holt asks the man about his experience),
this man took his daughter to hospital 40 times prior to her death.

She was a sick child to begin with. Someone who consistently takes their child to the hospital to be cared for
is showing that he cares about their well being.

As I understand, some or all of this medical info. was not shown at trial. (Don't take my word for it, watch the videos if this piques your interest).

So, I am compelled to believe this man is innocent.

I am actually in favour of the death penalty. (i.e. Nikolas Cruz).

This case seems to be the exception.

^^^^^ This One ^^^^

And a earlier post mentions , he tried to treat the child hisself .. Yes , if I had a sick child and the Doctors were not helping . I might try to come up with a workable attempt at a treatment or cure .
The real criminals in this case is the "institutional medicine" . That he attempted to get help from.
The medical system here is institutionalized and corporate owned...And badly broken ! . And people here are programmed to worship and honor incompetint Doctors, regardless of how much quackery they practice.
With the exception of the very few . Based on a lifetime of 1 st hand experiences.
But the legal systems in this country often use poorly thought out , self justifying logic. That leaves facts out .

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