Roberson Coverage Re: Judge Grants State's Extension in Controversial "Shaken Baby" Innocence Case
Regan Bowlby
Roberson Coverage Re: Judge Grants State's Extension in Controversial "Shaken Baby" Innocence Case
Dallas Morning News: State granted more time to file key response in Robert Roberson’s death penalty case
Texas Public Radio: Legal battle continues for death row inmate Robert Roberson
KETK: State granted 60-day extension in Robert Roberson case
CBS News Texas (Video): Judge gives state more time in death row inmate Robert Roberson’s bid for a new trial
State granted more time to file key response in Robert Roberson’s death penalty case
Jamie Landers, February 3, 2026
A judge has granted an extension for the state to deliver a key response in Robert Roberson’s death penalty case, according to documents obtained Tuesday by The Dallas Morning News.
The delay follows months of back-and-forth between the Texas attorney general’s office and Roberson’s defense attorneys, who are fighting for an evidentiary hearing they hope will lead to a new trial.
Roberson, 59, was convicted of capital murder in 2003, having been accused of shaking his 2-year-old daughter, Nikki, to death. His prosecution relied, in part, on proving Nikki showed a triad of symptoms associated with “shaken baby syndrome,” a medical determination that has since come under intense scrutiny by medical and scientific experts.
Roberson’s legal team has long sought to present evidence it says will prove his daughter died of accidental and natural causes. The attorney general’s office and some of Nikki’s family, however, have argued there is still enough proof of abuse to uphold Roberson’s death sentence.
On Oct. 9, Roberson’s third and latest execution date was stayed after the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals sent his case back to district court. The decision was made in light of an overturned conviction in a similar shaken baby case out of Dallas County.
Roberson’s lead attorney, Gretchen Sween, has argued the appeals court “presupposed” that an evidentiary hearing is expected, outlining three instances in which judges cited the need for evidentiary development in the case.
But lawyers with the AG’s office wrote that the appeals court, in its stay, did not specify an evidentiary hearing was required to move forward and assess the unresolved facts. They also argued that, based on a statute, they had at least six months to craft a response explaining how they want to proceed.
During a brief, virtual hearing in December, Smith County District Judge Austin Reeve Jackson set a deadline for Friday, Feb. 6. The AG’s office then asked last week for a 60-day extension.
In the request, Assistant Attorney General Travis G. Bragg cited the time it requires to untangle such “novel” and extensive material, in addition to concerns about his workload involving multiple capital cases.
“This request is not designed to harass the Applicant or cause unnecessary delay in these proceedings,” Bragg wrote. “Rather, the time is needed to fully address the claim at issue before the court.”
In a filing opposing the extension, Sween disagreed that there are any novel arguments in question, writing that only one claim was remanded on Oct. 9 and “it rests on the same premise the State has confronted for years: that the expert testimony regarding Nikki Curtis’s cause of death was based on a scientific hypothesis that has since been definitively refuted.”
“The CCA’s ruling plainly expects prompt further factual development through an evidentiary hearing and a return to that court for a final adjudication of his single claim,” Sween said. “Each and every day that justice is deferred is a travesty.”
The extension was granted Tuesday afternoon, court records show, pushing the deadline to April 7.
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Legal battle continues for death row inmate Robert Roberson
David Martin Davies, February 3, 2026
Attorneys for Texas death row inmate Robert Roberson are urging an Anderson County district judge to reject the State’s request for more time to respond in his ongoing post-conviction case, arguing prosecutors have already had months to answer and have repeatedly addressed the substance of his “changed science” claim.
In a filing submitted Tuesday, Roberson’s counsel opposed the State’s motion seeking a 60-day extension to file its answer. The defense argued the State has not provided justification for why additional time is needed now, after the court previously allowed roughly four months for the State to respond.
“Counsel for the State offers no explanation as to why, after being granted four months to answer, on the eve of its deadline, the State now seeks yet another two more months simply to answer,” Roberson’s filing stated. “As previously noted, the State has already filed multiple responses to the substance of Mr. Roberson’s changed-science claim.”
The latest filings focus on procedure — whether the State should get more time — but they sit within a larger fight over whether Roberson is entitled to relief under Texas law that allows courts to revisit convictions when relevant scientific understanding has changed since trial.
Roberson’s case has long drawn attention because it involves contested medical testimony associated with shaken baby syndrome, also known as abusive head trauma, an injury that critics say earlier diagnostic approaches lacked understanding of the science, often treated as definitive and ignored alternative explanations for the injury.
Roberson’s attorneys contend the State’s extension request is unjustified and delays a case that has already been litigated extensively for years.
They argue that the State has been aware of the changed science arguments for a long time and has already made substantive filings addressing them, and that the state in asking for more time at the deadline — without a detailed reason — is unfair, unnecessary and violates the rights of Roberson to a speedy trial.
Roberson’s attorneys are asking the court to take the case moving toward the next steps, which could include a hearing schedule and fact-finding that would ultimately be sent back up to the higher court overseeing the case.
The State’s motion requests two additional months to file its answer. While the defense says prosecutors did not adequately explain the need for extra time, the State typically argues in extension requests that additional time is required to review a large record, analyze controlling legal issues, coordinate among offices, and prepare an accurate response in a capital case.
Roberson’s latest court fight comes after he twice came within days — and once within hours — of being executed as his attorneys pressed courts to reconsider the medical testimony used to convict him.
In October 2024, Roberson had an execution date set, but the scheduled lethal injection was halted at the last minute amid a flurry of emergency filings and new procedural moves that briefly put his case back in play. Reporting at that time described the stop as coming less than two hours before the execution was to be carried out.
Then in October 2025, with another execution date set for Oct. 16, the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals again stepped in, this time a week before the scheduled execution, issuing a stay and sending the case back to the Anderson County trial court for further proceedings.
The state’s high criminal court said the trial judge must take another look at Roberson’s claim under Texas’ “junk science/changed science” framework, focusing on how a recent decision in a similar shaken-baby-syndrome case could affect his request for relief.
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https://www.ketk.com/news/local-news/state-granted-60-day-extension-in-robert-roberson-case/
State granted 60-day extension in Robert Roberson case
Jack Gurley, February 3, 2026
After Anderson County death row inmate Robert Roberson was granted an execution stay this past October, the state has been granted a 60-day extension to determine the future of Roberson’s case.
According to court documents, the state requested a 60-day extension before returning to court, citing the trial’s unprecedented nature and that Roberson’s prior conviction was based on flawed science.
The state also requested the extension, claiming that the lead counsel has been unable to give the case their full attention because they are working on other capital cases with death sentences.
Roberson’s attorney, Gretchen Sween, is pleading with the Anderson County District Court to deny the state’s request, stating that it exposes the weakness of the plaintiffs’ position after they had months to file an answer.
“The state’s request for yet more delay does not make sense,” court documents said. “It relies on a mischaracterization of the history and posture of this case,” Sween stated. “The state has long been on notice of the basis of Mr. Roberson’s remanded claim and further delay is wholly unjustified.”
Sween also stated in her request that the district court deny the state’s extension that Roberson has been confined to a single cell within a steel-and-concrete box since 2003.
Each and every day that justice is deferred is a travesty,” Sween added.
Sween also challenged the state’s claim in asking for an extension due to an element of false science being present in the case, stating that the plaintiff has already filed multiple responses to the substance of Mr. Roberson’s changed-science claim.
“The fundamental point is after all this water under the bridge. The state has
offered no explanation as to why it needs yet more time just to answer,” Sween said. “Unless the
the state is contemplating a change that would involve fair and truthful consideration of
the objective medical evidence and the relevant science that has already been
proffered, there is no reason for yet more delay.”
If the extension grant is upheld, the state will have until April to file its response before a judge decides whether to proceed to a hearing.
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Judge gives state more time in death row inmate Robert Roberson’s bid for a new trial
A judge has given the state extra time to respond in Robert Roberson’s death‑row case, as his attorneys push for a new trial based on disputed medical evidence. His legal team argues the delay highlights weaknesses in the state’s position while courts continue reviewing his decades‑old conviction.
February 3, 2026