Ex-juror in ‘shaken baby’ case tells hearing Texas death row inmate should not face execution

The latest headlines from our reporters across the US sent straight to your inbox each weekday Your briefing on the latest headlines from across the US Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Terre Compton, an original juror, told the committee the jury was not made aware of Nikki’s medical history, stating she would’ve found Roberson “not guilty” had she known then what she knows now. “If we are going to deprive someone of their life, that comes at a very high standard, a very high standard of proof, a very high standard of evidence.” Roberson most likely would’ve been executed by lethal injection on Thursday had the committee not issued the subpoena as part of a hearing on whether Article 11.073, a 2013 state law dubbed the “junk science statute,” is being applied in criminal cases as intended. Texas Governor Greg Abbott, the only person with the ability to grant Roberson a 30-day reprieve, had not spoken out on the matter until Monday, when he asked the state supreme court to throw out the subpoena, stating that the power to grant clemency is his alone and lawmakers have “stepped out of line.” “If the House Committee on Criminal Jurisprudence thinks itself entitled to testimony from a criminal on death row, a point which is not conceded, it could have done so without erasing the authority given exclusively to the Governor,” Abbott wrote in a letter to the court. “Only at the eleventh hour, when the Constitution empowers the Governor to make the last move, did the House Committee decide to violate the Separation-of-Powers Clause.” The governor submitted the letter in support of a motion the attorney general’s office filed with the court on Saturday asking to reverse the decision allowing Roberson to testify.