Texas House panel subpoenas death row inmate Robert Roberson a second time

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A bipartisan committee of Texas lawmakers again issued a subpoena compelling the state’s prison system to let death row inmate Robert Roberson provide testimony at the Capitol about his murder conviction, which some legislators say is based on “junk science.”

The new subpoena, issued Dec. 10 and served on Monday, comes after Texas House members said Attorney General Ken Paxton’s office stalled previous efforts to secure Roberson’s in-person testimony.

The Texas Supreme Court said in a Nov. 15 ruling that a legislative subpoena of a death row inmate could not be used to block a scheduled execution. But the court added that as long as the subpoena doesn’t interfere with a scheduled execution, state officials should be able to comply with it. Roberson’s execution was halted earlier this year and has not yet been rescheduled.

The Texas House Criminal Jurisprudence’s new subpoena orders Roberson to appear for testimony in Austin at the committee’s hearing on Friday. Compliance requires the Texas Department of Criminal Justice, an executive branch agency, to facilitate his appearance.

“While time is limited, we don’t intend to let the clock ‘run out’ when the Supreme Court’s ruling has made it clear that a subpoena for him is proper and must be honored here,” Rep. Joe Moody, D-El Paso and the committee’s chair, said in a statement.

Moody and Rep. Jeff Leach, R-Plano, who have raised doubts about Roberson’s capital murder conviction, accused Paxton of slow-walking the inmate’s testimony and seeking to run out the clock on the committee — which automatically disbands when a new legislative session begins next year.

“What the attorney general's office, I feel like, is doing right now is trying to delay as much as possible and not work with us,” Leach told The Texas Tribune during an event this month about the committee’s intervention in Roberson’s case.

In a statement Tuesday, Roberson's attorney Gretchen Sween said that Roberson was “eager to testify and grateful for the chance to be heard. We will do all we can to cooperate, and I profoundly hope that his ability to appear is not obstructed by those who, for whatever reason, do not want the lawmakers and the public to hear from him directly about his experience trying to communicate his innocence.”

Roberson was convicted of capital murder in 2003 for the death of his 2-year-old daughter Nikki, who was diagnosed with shaken baby syndrome. His lawyers have argued that new scientific evidence invalidates that diagnosis and shows that she died of undiagnosed pneumonia, not abuse.

Many lawmakers, including Moody and Leach, believe that Texas courts have not properly applied a 2013 state law meant to provide new trials for people whose convictions relied on debunked science.

If Paxton’s office and the criminal justice department refuse to comply with the new subpoena, the House committee could seek a court order to send an officer to death row to bring Roberson to Austin.

Paxton’s office and the Texas Department of Criminal Justice did not immediately reply to a request for comment on Tuesday.

Roberson’s case became a political lightning rod after the committee — the day before his scheduled execution — issued an unprecedented subpoena requesting his testimony at a hearing four days after he was set to die.

That set off a legal battle between the state’s legislative and executive branches, and forced a stay of Roberson’s execution on Oct. 17.

In November, the Texas Supreme Court cleared the way for Roberson’s death sentence to move forward. A new execution date could not land within 90 days of the prosecutor’s request that it be set. The district attorney in his case has not yet requested a new execution date.

Paxton continued to push for Roberson’s execution after lawmakers raised questions about his conviction, and his office shut down plans for the inmate to testify at the Capitol on Oct. 21. Paxton said Roberson could only testify virtually, but lawmakers argued that the death row inmate, who has autism, would not be able to effectively testify over video.

Moody said at the Tribune’s event this month that Paxton’s office refused to commit to allowing Roberson to appear for in-person testimony after the Supreme Court’s decision — prompting him to issue a new subpoena.

“I've been in this business long enough — that's just a foot drag,” he said. “Why don't they want to hear from Robert? Why do they not want the Legislature to do this?”