Time is running out for Robert Roberson. The 57-year-old could become the first person in U.S. history to be executed for a murder conviction tied to "shaken baby syndrome" — a diagnosis critics call junk science.
In an interview with CNN Roberson said, "I carried her to the hospital, I didn't have nothing to hide. I might not have been prepared like I should have been, you know. But yes, I did love her."
Roberson was convicted and sentenced to death for the 2002 killing of his 2-year-old daughter, Nikki Curtis.
Prosecutors allege Roberson abused his daughter and violently shook her to death, leading to the "shaken baby syndrome" diagnosis.
But as the due date of his execution approaches there has been a groundswell of support for Roberson and objections to the ruling.
Vanessa Potkin from the Innocence Project says, "it's really unusual to see this level of support, this bipartisan support, and so many people getting involved."
Last month, a bipartisan group of 86 Texas House representatives called for Roberson to get a new trial — including a group who visited Roberson in prison.
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Texas House Representative Lacey Hull went to visit Roberson.
"I only get involved in the cases where I truly believe someone is innocent and I believe that's the case here," Hull said.
Brian Wharton, the former lead detective who arrested Roberson, has also spoken out on his behalf worried he helped put an innocent man behind bars.
According to the Death Penalty Information Center at least eight people have been sentenced to death because of shaken baby syndrome. Two of those cases ended with exonerations.
Robin Maher, from the Death Penalty Information Center, says "What we know is that other people who have been convicted under this Shaken Baby Syndrome thesis have been released. We have at least 32 people who have been — they're all caregivers, by the way, who've been exonerated after courts did consider this evidence to be as unsound as we now know it to be."
Roberson's defense now points to undiagnosed pneumonia as his daughter's cause of death — claiming Nikki stopped breathing in her sleep.
"Shaken Baby Syndrome was a hypothesis that was put forward as general guidance for parents to avoid injury. It was never supposed to be a medical diagnosis or to be something that was used as proof positive that some type of abuse occurred," Potkin said.
To be clear, the American Academy of Pediatrics does still consider shaken baby syndrome, or abusive head trauma as it is now known, a "significant cause of morbidity and mortality in the pediatric population." The group not comment on the specifics of this case.
Wednesday the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles denied a request for clemency for Robert Roberson. His execution is scheduled for Thursday after 6 p.m.
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