From Texas Public Radio:
Texas Death Row inmate Robert Roberson is expected to testify Monday at 12 p.m. in Austin before the House Committee on Criminal Jurisprudence. But it’s unclear if Robertson will appear virtually or in person.
Roberson was scheduled to be executed on Thursday but an unprecedented legal move — a subpoena from the Texas House — saved him from lethal injection.
Legislators are investigating why the state’s junk science law has not been applied in Roberson’s case and others on death row.
The lawmakers say Roberson’s testimony is key to understanding problems with failed court appeals when capital convictions are obtained using outdated science.
“More than a decade ago, the Texas Legislature passed Senate Bill 344, which allowed challenges to convictions that were based on disproven or incomplete science,” read a letter from 86 bipartisan House members. “That law passed with unanimous support of the Texas House because we recognized that innocent people are sometimes wrongfully convicted based on scientific evidence that later turns out to be wrong.”

Texas legislators urge clemency for Robert Roberson, who is scheduled for execution on October 17, as they hold a press conference at the Texas Capitol Sept. 17, 2024. Medical experts have cast doubt on Roberson’s conviction for the 2002 death of his 2-year-old daughter, Nikki, in what prosecutors alleged was a case involving Shaken Baby Syndrome.
Mikala Compton/American-Statesman / USA TODAY NETWORK Via Reuters Co
Attorney General Ken Paxton argued that Roberson should testify remotely because it would be too dangerous to bring the death row inmate to the Capitol.
But Roberson’s attorney Gretchen Sween said because he has autism and has been in solitary confinement for over 20 years, he will not be able to communicate effectively over a Zoom link.
“Requiring Robert to communicate over Zoom would unquestionably handicap him and thwart the whole point of the hearing … which is allowing the committee to hear from him, to see him, to ‘witness’ him and to assess his credibility,” Sween said in a statement. “He wants to come to the Texas Capitol to finally be heard in person – even if he has to wear his shackles and chains to do so.”