'I'm 100% convinced we're facing a miscarriage of justice here,' Dr. Phil testifies at Robert Roberson hearing

UPDATE | Oct. 21, 2024, 3:12 PM CST |

Austin, TX — "I am 100% convinced we are facing a miscarriage of justice here." 

Merit TV's "Dr. Phil" McGraw spoke to a bipartisan group of Texas legislators Monday to advocate for death row inmate Robert Roberson. The 57-year-old was scheduled for execution last Thursday for the 2002 killing of his 2-year-old daughter Nikki Curtis – who reportedly died from shaken baby syndrome – a crime he and his advocates say did not happen. But the execution was halted after the Texas House Committee on Criminal Jurisprudence issued a subpoena for Roberson to testify about his case. 

A supporter of Roberson, McGraw has reviewed transcripts multiple times and supporting documents from his trial. He has also  done an intensive forensic interview with Roberson. Having spent spent decades of his career in the legal arena, both civil and criminal, McGraw also has extensive training in clinical, psychology, and behavioral medicine. 

“I do not believe that Mr. Roberson has had due process in this case. I do not believe he has yet enjoyed a fair trial in the matter,” said McGraw. “I believe that in the United States of America, if we are going to deprive someone of their liberty, that comes at a very high standard. If we are going to deprive someone of their life that comes at a very high standard, a very high standard of proof, a very high standard of evidence."

McGraw also testified about what he called "triad tunnel vision," due to the shaken baby syndrome defined by a "triad of symptoms." Shaken baby syndrome or “abusive head trauma,” is a known, and valid diagnosis by the American Academy of Pediatrics. 

Abusive head trauma generally occurs when a frustrated parent or caregiver violently shakes a child and/or causes a blunt impact injury, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and others say. It is the leading cause of child abuse deaths in children younger than 5, according to the CDC.

The symptoms in Nikki's case were subdural hematoma, brain swelling and retinol hemorrhaging, according to McGraw, which he said was believed to define the shaken baby syndrome. 

"We now know from an evolution of science that that just simply isn't the case. There are a number of other explanations for those syndromes, and that "causation has actually been debunked," stated McGraw. "But I think that once that was looked at as the order of the day, everybody got tunnel vision. There's something in psychology called confirmation bias. It's the tendency for people to make up their minds and close off openness to alternative explanations. They seek and find and hear and process only data that supports their initial belief. And they turn a deaf ear and a blind eye to anything other than what they passionately believe to be the case. I think we have clear evidence that that's what happened in this case."

Since 1992, courts in at least 17 states and the U.S. Army have exonerated 32 people convicted in shaken baby syndrome cases, according to the National Registry of Exonerations.

During his testimony, McGraw touched on all of Nikki's illnesses from the time she was only eight years old.

"The medical record shows this child was not well, that this baby had 46 doctor or hospital visits in her 23 months and few weeks of life," stated McGraw. "In the days leading up to her death, the record shows she had 104.5 temperature. The record shows that Robert took her to the doctor twice in the week leading up to her collapse. The record shows that she was prescribed phenergan on two days, leading at two separate days leading up to her death. A black box warning says you do not prescribe this medication to someone under two years of age."

Roberson's daughter also had double pneumonia that had progressed to sepsis, according to his attorneys. Additionally, the night before Roberson brought her to a Palestine, Texas, emergency room, Nikki had fallen off a bed, and was particularly vulnerable given her illness, Roberson’s attorneys said. They point to all these factors as explanations for her condition.

McGraw also mentioned the numerous times throughout the last 22 years that Roberson was offered a plea deal. But he always refused. 

"Deal after plea deal and he never took a plea deal because he said, 'I never did anything to this child. I never put my hands on this child in anger. I didn't hurt this child. I didn't doing this child. I'm not going to take a plea deal for something I didn't do,' " said McGraw. 

"My professional opinion is that this is not a man with malice," stated McGraw. "This is not someone that hurt this child. What I can tell you that goes beyond opinion after examining the record in this case, the trial transcript, in this case, the medical records in this case, this man has not had due process. This man has not had a fair trial. And if we start executing people in Texas, absent due process, absent fair trial, we are going down a really dangerous road. That is not something that I can support."

UPDATE | Oct. 21, 2024, 12:46 PM CST |

Texas death row inmate Robert Roberson was set to speak with lawmakers considering the lawfulness of his case and whether it necessitates changes to a “junk science” law those in his corner feel should benefit Roberson.

But he won't be present at the hearing, according to Rep Joe Moody. 

"We didn’t issue the subpoena to create a constitutional crisis and we aren’t interested in escalating a division of government," said Moody, adding that Roberson won't attend via Zoom either due to his autism diagnosis. 

Austin, TX — A Texas man whose execution was halted after a last-ditch maneuver by lawmakers who believe Robert Roberson did not kill his 2-year-old daughter was expected to testify before a state House panel on Monday, four days after he was scheduled to die by lethal injection.

Dr. Phil McGraw is in Austin and will testify on Roberson's behalf. McGraw is one of many advocates for Roberson and has visited him in prison. 

Roberson was set to become the first person in the U.S. executed over a murder conviction connected to a diagnosis of shaken baby syndrome. His claims of innocence are backed by a group of Republican and Democratic legislators who say he was convicted based on outdated science.

Once Roberson testifies to lawmakers, prosecutors could seek a new execution date at any time, according to Gretchen Sween, one of his attorneys.

Lawmakers have sought to have Roberson transported from death row to appear in person, raising the possibility of an extraordinary scene in the Texas Capitol, but the state attorney general's office told the committee he would appear virtually.

Rebuffed by the courts and Texas’ parole board in their efforts to spare Roberson’s life, legislators last Thursday subpoenaed Roberson to testify in an unusual tactic to buy him more time. Lawmakers on the House committee have expressed frustration with Texas' junk science law, which they say has failed to work as intended, including in Roberson's case.

The 2013 law allows a person convicted of a crime to seek relief if the evidence used against them is no longer credible. At the time, it was hailed by the Legislature as a uniquely future-proof solution to wrongful convictions based on faulty science. But Roberson’s supporters say his case points to faults in the judicial system where the law has been weakened by deliberate misinterpretation from the state’s highest criminal court.

In the last 10 years, 74 applications have been filed and ruled on under the junk science law. A third of applications were submitted by people facing the death penalty. All of them were unsuccessful.

Anderson County District Attorney Allyson Mitchell, whose office prosecuted Roberson, has previously told the committee that a court hearing was held in 2022 in which Roberson’s attorneys presented their new evidence to a judge, who rejected their claims.

Roberson was sentenced to death for the killing of his 2-year-old daughter, Nikki Curtis, in 2002. Prosecutors argued the infant's death was caused by serious head trauma from being violently shaken back and forth. Roberson's attorneys say that the bruising on Curtis' body was likely due to complications with severe pneumonia and not child abuse.

Almost 90 lawmakers across party lines, medical experts and best-selling author John Grisham had called on Republican Gov. Greg Abbott to stay his execution. Abbott has not commented on Roberson's case and the Texas parole board rejected pleas to grant clemency.

Copyright MSM/Associated Press