Texas AG Ken Paxton Accused of Trying to Silence Death Row Inmate

What’s New

A Texas state lawmaker said Attorney General Ken Paxton has shut down efforts to allow death row inmate Robert Roberson to testify at the Capitol in Austin.

Rep. Joe Moody, the Democratic representative for El Paso, said Paxton stopped him, his office and at least one other lawmaker on the House Criminal Jurisprudence Committee from communicating with the Texas Department of Criminal Justice (TDCJ), according to The Dallas Morning News.

He also said the TDCJ has not responded to any attempt to compromise, by allowing testimony via Zoom for example, in “any real way,” The Austin Chronicle reported.

On top of this, Moody has accused Paxton of intentionally requesting a specific time for a hearing in relation to Roberson’s case to wait out the clock so Roberson’s testimony is never heard.

Newsweek has contacted Paxton and Moody’s office, via email, for comment.

Why It Matters

Roberson was found guilty of capital murder in 2003 for the death of his 2-year-old daughter, Nikki. A doctor in Dallas determined the child died from “shaken baby syndrome,” or head trauma caused by violent shaking.

Roberson was scheduled to be executed by lethal injection at the Huntsville Unit in Texas on October 17. The Texas Supreme Court granted him a stay of execution to allow him to testify before the Texas House Committee on Criminal Jurisprudence.

What To Know

Roberson was due to appear before the committee on December 20, but the day before, Paxton filed a motion arguing that the subpoena issued by the committee, which would force the Texas Department of Criminal Justice to bring Roberson to the Capitol, was invalid, meaning the Texas Department of Criminal Justice did not have to comply.

Moody, and committee mem­ber Jeff Leach, have previously accused Paxton of stonewalling Roberson’s testimony.

At a panel discussion at the beginning of this month, Leach said that Paxton’s office is try­ing to delay [tes­ti­mo­ny] until the start of the next ses­sion, which is just hor­ri­fy­ing and mad­den­ing to me.”

Moody repeated these claims last week, when he said: “They (the TDCJ) were told, ‘We’ve been instructed not to talk to you’.”

“So the Office of the Attorney General is telling a state agency that they cannot cooperate with a lawfully executed subpoena,” Moody said, according to The Dallas Morning News.

This week, Moody made similar accusations when he pushed back on Paxton’s claims that the committee was not compromising with the TDCJ.

“This is a lie. We have been attempting to try to find an accommodation since October, and they have never responded to anything meaningfully, because they don’t want to have Robert here,” Moody said, according to The Austin Chronicle.

Newsweek has contacted the TDCJ, via email, for a response to this.

What People Are Saying

Paxton wrote on social media, on the day he filed his motion: “Today, I filed a motion for a protective order to prevent a procedurally deficient and overly burdensome subpoena from enabling a convicted murderer to testify at a House Committee hearing. The filing of the motion automatically excuses the Texas Department of Criminal Justice from complying with the subpoena pending a hearing and resolution of the motion.”

In the motion, Paxton’s office said the House Criminal Jurisprudence Committee’s subpoena “an unprecedented procedural maneuver intended to end-run the state Constitution and delay (Roberson’s) execution,” claiming the committee intentionally called “the convicted murderer to testify in front of their committee on a date after the execution was to take place.”

Moody said: “Something that really struck me in the A.G.’s filing was their line about bringing [Roberson] to the seat of ‘our’ state government. Here’s a fact: It’s his state government, just as much as it’s ours, just as much as it’s anybody’s in Texas.

“Our laws have affected [Roberson] as deeply as they can affect anyone, and it’s our job here in this building to make sure they’re fair and just and work as intended. That job is far from over on this issue, and we don’t intend to leave it undone.”

What Happens Next

Despite Paxton requesting a hearing on the matter of the subpoena to be held on January 13, Moody and Leach said they would continue working to get Roberson to the Capitol.

Roberson’s Case

New studies have found that the symptoms once attributed to “shaken baby syndrome” could also be linked to other causes such as falls or pneumonia. Since 1992, at least 34 defendants accused of inflicting shaken baby syndrome or abusive head trauma have been exonerated.

Nikki was chronically ill and had been taken to the hospital multiple times before her death for persistent respiratory issues and a fever.

Roberson has maintained his innocence in the case.

Brian Wharton, who was a chief detective with the Palestine Police Department, arrested Roberson before an autopsy had been completed. Wharton apologized to Roberson in July in a conversation recorded by The New York Times.