Group holds rally in Austin in support of death row inmate Robert Roberson

Supporters gathered at the Texas State Capitol Saturday afternoon to offer their support for death row inmate Robert Roberson in his fight for a new trial ahead of his scheduled execution.

Among those who spoke Saturday was Roberson's attorney, Gretchen Sween.

Sween chastised the state attorney general's office for moving forward with a new execution date for Roberson. 

Roberson is scheduled to be executed Oct. 16.

What they're saying:

"Would they meet with me? No," Sween said. "Every request I've made, I've made directly to the attorney general's office. And through intermediaries, denied."

Sween said her defense of Roberson equates to a "righteous rage."

"I don't think he's potentially innocent," Sween said. "I know he's innocent. I know it. And I know there was no crime."

Also speaking Saturday was former Palestine Assistant Police Chief Brian Horton.

Horton said he first met Roberson in the emergency room of Palestine Regional Medical Center working with other detectives conducting interviews on the night Roberson's daughter died.

"Out of all those voices that we were hearing that night, we gave the least credibility to the one, it turns out we should have listened the closest to," Horton said.

Horton said someone needed to be responsible for Roberson's daughter's condition and said based on their understanding the arrest fit.

"The science that we have come to understand is drastically flawed. All of us, all of us who made the system came up with a story, and we made it stick," Horton said.

He said he was already feeling apprehensive before Roberson's trial began, but is now convinced that an innocent man was sentenced to death.

"All of us made mistakes which have put an innocent man in danger of execution. I, with you, are now a witness, witness to the links that that system will go. The state will go to sustain a conviction," Horton said. "To simply keep the gears moving, keep the gears grinding forward. No thought whatsoever for the humanity that gets bound up in those gears. And the justice that's being denied."

Horton went on to say there was no shame in admitting when mistakes have been made in a case.

"However, there is shame and there will be enduring culpability for all of those who, because of pride or just indifference, participate in compelling this execution of an innocent man," Horton said.

Roberson seeking new trial, not clemency

Last month, Roberson's attorney said they would not seek clemency for Roberson, calling it a "grossly inadequate remedy."

What they're saying:

"A commutation of sentence is not justice for an innocent man who was wrongfully convicted of a crime that never occurred," Sween said. "Relief for Mr. Roberson must come from the courts."

Robert Roberson 'shaken baby' conviction

The backstory:

Roberson, 58, was convicted in 2003 of killing his 2-year-old daughter in Palestine, Texas in 2002. 

He took her to the emergency room with a high fever, where medical staff determined her condition was consistent with "shaken baby syndrome."

Roberson's attorneys have challenged that diagnosis, calling it "junk science." They say Nikki died from natural causes, likely undiagnosed pneumonia.

Robert Roberson's stay of execution

Dig deeper:

The last attempt to execute Roberson was halted by an emergency decision by a Texas court in the final hour of the day of his planned death. 

After his team had filed for clemency, begged for a retrial, and petitioned the Texas Supreme Court to intervene, the Texas House Committee on Criminal Jurisprudence finally issued a subpoena that threw a wrench in the works. 

The committee's move caused the Supreme Court to pause the execution to review the request, and ended up delaying another execution date until almost exactly one year later. 

What's next:

If Roberson's Oct. 16 execution goes through, he would be the first person in the US to be executed based on a shaken baby conviction. 

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