First impressions, rational judgements

Robert Roberson is an autistic man who was to be executed a couple of weeks ago in Texas. That’s a sentence meant to get your attention. “What’s that story?” my scrolling brain wants to know.

Twenty two years ago, Robert Roberson brought his infant daughter to the emergency room. She soon died. The symptoms she presented, appeared to align with “shaken baby syndrome”. Robert Roberson was reported to have a neutral demeanor, and behave with little emotion. First impressions are powerful. This was perceived as his being indifferent, perhaps callus, perhaps a KILLER.

A trial was held. Robert Roberson was found guilty of killing his own child by reason of shaken baby syndrome. After twenty two years in prison, he was to be executed.

There’s more to the story. His daughter, Nikki, had a history of chronic illness. An autopsy showed that her death was due to an “undiagnosed case of double pneumonia”. Shaken baby syndrome lost credibility as a determinable cause of death, giving this case legal reason for review according to a 2013 Texas’ law, Article 11.073, sometimes called the “junk science statute”. In 2018 Robert Roberson was diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder.

Over the course of twenty-two years medical professionals found and corrected mistakes. The detective in the original case found and tried to correct mistakes. Legal teams found and corrected mistakes. The accused, Robert Roberson, was found to have a condition, which any parent of an autistic child, or…