Testimony Delayed? Joe Moody Doubts Death Row Inmate Will Speak Before Lawmakers Monday

Just before Robert Roberson was scheduled to testify before a state House committee, Rep. Joe Moody, a Democrat, expressed doubt that Roberson would actually take the stand today.

“Our committee simply cannot agree to video conference,” he said. “That doesn’t mean Robert won’t testify at all.”

He added the committee is working with the Attorney General Ken Paxton’s office to figure out how Roberson can testify in person.

Moody argued lawmakers pushed for having Roberson give his testimony in person, as he is an autistic person and has been in prison for two decades, making him unfamiliar with modern technologies such as Zoom meetings.

The AG’s office argued that bringing Roberson to the Capitol would pose security and logistical problems.

Roberson was set to be executed last Thursday, however, a bipartisan group of lawmakers voted to subpoena him and order him to testify on Monday, four days after his scheduled execution. The Texas Supreme Court ultimately halted Roberson’s execution, arguing that executing him before he could offer testimony would violate the Legislature’s constitutional authority.

On Sunday, Gov. Greg Abbott’s office urged the Texas Supreme Court to toss out the subpoena ordering Roberson to testify, arguing lawmakers “stepped out of line” by delaying his execution.

In a letter sent on Sunday, James Sullivan, Abbott’s general counsel said only the governor has the constitutional authority to delay an execution. 

”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 should have done so without erasing the authority given exclusively to the governor,” Sullivan wrote.

This letter is the first time the governor has commented on Roberson’s case.

In addition, Ken Paxton’s office also said the Supreme’s Court order “flouts” the separation of powers and pushed the state to the “brink of a constitutional crisis.”

Roberson was convicted for fatally shaking his 2-year-old daughter Nikki. Lawmakers and medical experts argued Nikki was misdiagnosed with the “shaken baby syndrome,” and that she died from pneumonia complications. They argued Roberson’s conviction was based on faulty science.

Lawmakers argued the state is ignoring the “junk science” law which allows people to challenge convictions when new science is applied in their case.

If Roberson testifies, it would be the first time a condemned prisoner in Texas will testify before state lawmakers.