The Office of the Attorney General of Texas has recently issued a statement concerning the case of Robert Roberson, who was convicted in 2003 for the capital murder of his two-year-old daughter Nikki Curtis. In an effort to clarify details amid ongoing discourse and debate, the Office released the original autopsy report and additional evidence, aiming to dispel purported falsehoods spread by some activists and legislators.
The report details the fatal injuries sustained by the child, citing extensive bruising and blunt force trauma. According to testimony by the Emergency Room Nurse Andrea Sims, Nikki had a “mushy” skull upon her arrival at the hospital, indicating severe damage. This evidence contributed to the jury's conclusion that Roberson was guilty of murdering his daughter by inflicting the blunt force head injuries that led to her death, the Office of the Attorney General reported.
The medical examiner, Dr. Jill Urban, played a significant role during the trial, presenting her findings that Nikki's head injuries were consistent with being struck multiple times, a crucial point that rejected the possibility of death by "shaken baby syndrome." Six supervising medical examiners concurred with Dr. Urban’s report. Roberson's defense was further weakened by his inconsistent narratives about the events leading to his daughter's injuries and his history of abuse, the Attorney General's Office noted.
In 2016, amidst appeals, Dr. Urban stood by her assertion that "the death was due to blunt force injuries," a stance that reinforced the earlier findings and conclusions drawn at trial. Evidence from the trial also included Roberson's admission of previous violence toward Nikki and conflicting explanations of the events in question, according to the released documents from the Attorney General's Office.
The current rebuttal by the Attorney General’s office comes as a coalition of activists and State legislators are accused of interfering with the justice system to prevent or delay Roberson’s execution. Arguments from this coalition that lean on the discrediting of "junk science" surrounding shaken baby syndrome have been described by the Attorney General’s Office as unfounded attempts to rewrite history. The Office maintains that Roberson has exhausted all legal appeals and that his sentencing was lawful, asserting that the involvement of a few legislators has overstepped constitutional boundaries and created a crisis.
