AUSTIN (KETK) — Just eight days after death row inmate Robert Roberson’s execution hearing, his attorneys are asking the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals (CCA) to stay his execution set for this fall in his case involving the death of his 2-year-old daughter, Nikki Curtis.
KETK News had the opportunity to speak with Roberson’s attorney, Gretchen Sween, Thursday morning about her reaction to the execution date being set and the two motions filed in the CCA.
On July 16, Roberson’s hearing led the Smith County District Court Judge Austin Reeve Jackson to order his execution to be set for 6 p.m. on Oct. 16, 2025. “The ruling was very disappointing, and that’s why we are now turning around to stop the execution date that we thought shouldn’t have been set in the first place,” Sween said. “But we were grateful to be able to have a hearing, and that the judge made an effort to get Roberson there. I think it was evident there’s a lot of interest in what’s going on in this case.”
Only a few days after the hearing, Roberson’s defense team filed two motions in the CCA: an emergency motion for stay of execution and a motion for oral argument.
Emergency motion for stay of execution
This motion asks that Roberson’s recently set execution date be stayed to “ensure the court has sufficient time to complete its review of his pending subsequent application for habeas corpus relief.”
In Feb. 2025, Roberson filed a subsequent application for habeas corpus relief, which is still pending at the CCA. “It is reasonable to assume that the CCA has been carefully considering the wealth of evidence proving Robert’s innocence. Comprehensive medical and scientific explanations for his daughter’s condition both at the time of her final collapse and then two days later after extensive medical intervention, have been presented to the Court, including new expert medical opinions filed in February,” Sween said.
“The motion tries to make clear that we are asking [the stay of execution] to take precedence because it’s an emergency,” Sween said. “There’s now this time bomb of the execution date so hopefully that will be taken up first.”
The stay application gives a detailed history of Roberson’s efforts to prove his innocence and “the court’s failure, so far, to engage with that evidence.” The stay also explained that Roberson has acted “diligently to discover and present additional evidence supporting his actual innocence claim.”
Motion for oral argument
This motion has never been held before the CCA since Roberson’s innocence was first raised in 2016. His defense said that no court has reviewed the “mountain of evidence” proving that the death of his daughter was a result of “illness, medical error and accident, none of which was Roberson’s fault.”
“We have made an unusual quest, grant us oral argument, allow us to come in and have both sides argue why the case has not been handled appropriately, why there is a reason to grant relief, or at least what the standards are that should be governing a case involving this junk science claim,” Sween said.
“These motions make very clear that there is compelling evidence of innocence that has yet to be considered, and there are many issues that the entire state could use some guidance from the highest criminal court,” Sween said.
More information about the Robert Roberson case:
On January 31, 2002, Roberson took Curtis to Palestine Regional Medical Center with severe trauma to her head, and the following day, she died from her injuries.
In 2003, an East Texas jury decided, beyond a reasonable doubt, that Roberson caused the death of his daughter by violently shaking her. Medical staff and the lead detective on the case were suspicious of Roberson’s seemingly cold demeanor at the time of his daughter’s death, viewing it as an indication of guilt.
Roberson’s legal team explained that he was a special education student who dropped out of school in the ninth grade and has been diagnosed with autism, which can impact a person’s ability to communicate and show emotion. The defense said that Roberson was convicted under a “now-debunked shaken baby syndrome theory” for the death.
“There are some misunderstandings about how serious the flaws are in this case, rampant false testimony on top of just the discredited shaken baby testimony that no one would give today because there has been too much scientific advance saying none of those assumptions are legitimate anymore,” Sween said.
Previous Robert Roberson Coverage Timeline:
- July 17, 2025: Friction in the family: Argument breaks out at Roberson’s hearing
- July 16, 2025: BLOG: Execution date set for Robert Roberson ‘shaken baby’ case
- June 17, 2025: New execution date hearing set in Robert Roberson case
- Oct. 29, 2024: Brother of Nikki Curtis describes 20-year quest for justice
- Oct. 28, 2024:Robert Roberson’s brother maintains his innocence with new letter
- Oct. 28, 2024: EXCLUSIVE: Nikki Curtis’ family breaks silence on Roberson hearings
- Oct. 17, 2024: Texas Supreme Court halts execution of East Texas man accused in shaken baby syndrome case
- Oct. 15, 2024: Execution warrant upheld in case of East Texas man on death row for death of daughter
- Sept. 28, 2024:Texas lawmakers meet with Palestine man on death row
- Jan. 31, 2022:East Texas death row inmate Robert Roberson demands new trial
The evidence used to convict Roberson sparked controversy in the Texas Legislature in 2024, ahead of his scheduled execution. The Texas House Committee on Criminal Jurisprudence subpoenaed Roberson to appear before their panel to delay his execution. The committee took up the issues around Roberson’s case in part because Texas has a junk science law that could have kept Roberson off of death row.
On July 15, Roberson’s new execution date was set in Palestine for his daughter’s death.