Robert Roberson is set to be executed by lethal injection on Oct. 16 in the state of Texas. He was convicted for the murder of his two-year-old daughter, Nikki Curtis. The prosecution based their case on a diagnosis of shaken baby syndrome: a condition referring to brain injury caused by violently shaking an infant. While Roberson was accused of hitting and shaking his daughter leading to her death, Nikki had a multitude of health issues that very likely played significant roles in her passing. She had severe viral and bacterial pneumonia that later became sepsis that further progressed and was severe enough to place the young girl under septic shock. A week before her death, a doctor had prescribed her a potent drug known as Phenergan: now labeled with an FDA warning against prescription to young children and those with her conditions. When her condition did not improve, Robert took her to a pediatrician who prescribed her more of the drug along with cough syrup and codeine. Codeine is an opioid that is now restricted for children under the age of 18 due to the risk of causing breathing issues and death. An expert on pediatric radiology, Dr. Julie Mack, stated that Nikki only had a single site of impact on her head. This finding matches Roberson’s statement of her falling out of bed and likely hitting her head. A single site of impact is not compatible with the claim of shaken baby syndrome. There were three other expert professionals that reviewed Nikki’s case and came to the same conclusions of medical issues and numerous other factors than the accused murder, such as the prescribed drugs. Besides these three, there have been ten pathologists who have made a joint statement reinforcing that her death was not a murder case. Furthermore, there is evidence supporting that the prosecution likely used Roberson’s autism against him. An example is his meeting with a psychologist hired by the prosecution, Thomas Allen. Allen used the widely criticized and debated Psychopath Test and accused Roberson of being a psychopath in court. Roberson has a hard time expressing emotion because of his autism and the psychologist had taken it as a lack of remorse. With this overwhelming amount of evidence against his conviction, the state of Texas should not go through with this execution as criminal conviction requires proof beyond a reasonable doubt. 

Roberson has been on death row for 20 years and has continuously claimed his innocence. “It was bad enough losing my little girl. And then when they accused me of it, I couldn’t believe it,” he says. For two decades he has been shackled down by an unfair conviction, scrutiny from the public, and the prying eyes of the media. For two decades he had to continue living knowing that the majority of the public believed he killed his daughter, that he is a monster. We must remember that before the sentencing and before the accusations, Roberson was just as human as you or me. Nothing should deter this acknowledgement of shared humanity. Remember his name. Remember his face. Remember how our system, designed to deter and punish the so-called “worst of society”, has betrayed him. If you did not know his story, would you have pushed this label on him? How can we push it onto people we don’t even know? There is always more than what the media reveals; what we assume we know about these cases and these people may be far from the truth. Although there is hope for Roberson for another delay in his execution, justice is not carried out until he is outside the bars and is assured of his innocence.

The death penalty has inherent flaws, just like our criminal justice system. In recent years, there were seven botched executions in 2022 and one in 2024. Utah still has the death penalty implemented into the system with four men on death row. There are eight people set to be executed just this month across the United States. On Oct. 10 in Indiana, Roy Lee Ward was executed. On Oct. 14 in Missouri, Lance C. Shockley was executed. On Oct. 14 in Florida, Samuel Lee Smithers was executed. On Oct. 15 in Mississippi, Charles Ray Crawford was executed. On Oct. 17 in Arizona, Richard Djerf was executed. On Oct. 23 in Alabama, Anthony Todd Boyd was executed. On Oct. 28 in Florida, Norman Mearle Grim is set to be executed. Do not let these people become nothing more than statistics, than meaningless names on a list. I encourage you to do your own investigation and come to your own conclusion about these individuals. Not all of these cases are like Roberson’s and it is essential that people be held accountable; victims should receive justice. It is easy to consider the death penalty in principle for this justice, but it is a very complicated subject in reality and especially when dealing with its flaws. Despite the complications surrounding the death penalty, we cannot ignore our humanity and the prospect of change and reform, even for the convicted. The choice is yours.