A judge recommended that Melissa Lucio’s conviction should be overturned, and the Texas Supreme Court dealt a blow to Robert Roberson.
HOUSTON — Two high profile Texas death row inmates have chances at reclaiming their innocence and their freedom. The cases for both Robert Roberson and Melissa Lucio had big developments within hours of each other.
These two cases have had different paths to get to this point. I spoke to a legal expert today breaking down these stories that have captured national attention.
A Texas House committee last month issued a subpoena for Robert Roberson to testify and delaying his execution.
“That’s extremely novel, right?” said Jeff Newberry with the University of Houston Law Center “This is the first time anything like this has come up in a Texas capital case.”
RELATED: Texas high court says execution in ‘shaken baby syndrome’ case can’t be halted by lawmaker subpoena
Roberson was convicted and put on death row for killing his two year old daughter in a shaken baby case that advocates say was based on outdated science. The legislature’s subpoena sparked a legal battle that went to the state Supreme Court to consider
“It just simply involves this question involving the separation of powers and that being, you know, can a legislative subpoena operate in a way to halt a long scheduled execution?” Newberry said.
The Texas Supreme Court said the legislature cannot override the scheduled execution. The chairs of the committee responded in a statement, saying “The Supreme Court strongly reinforced our belief that our Committee can indeed obtain Mr. Roberson’s testimony and made clear that it expects the Executive Branch of government to accommodate us in doing so. That has been our position all along, and we look forward to working with the Executive Branch to do just that.”
In the case of Melissa Lucio, who was also put on death row for killing her two-year-old daughter, the state Court of Criminal Appeals ordered the original trial court to review the case.
The findings were unsealed this week.
“The trial court issued findings of fact conclusions of law,” Newberry said “Basically, it contains its recommendation, and the trial court found that it believes that Melissa Lucio is, in fact, actually innocent.”
The trial court reviewing the case recommending Lucio’s conviction be overturned because of new science and questions over evidence and testimony presented by prosecutor. That means Lucio could get a new trial.
Experts say both cases may prompt more scrutiny on death row cases and loss.
“The life that’s been shown on these two cases, I think, will end up being helpful in that regard,” Newberry said.
In Roberson’s case, a new execution date has not yet been scheduled. Governor Abbott could issue a 30-day reprieve. I reached out to his office today, but have not yet heard back.