An execution date has been set for Robert Robertson, a man convicted of murdering his daughter. He would be the first person in the U.S. to be put to death for shaken baby syndrome.

Texas

A Texas court has scheduled the execution of Robert Roberson, who was convicted of murdering his infant daughter in a case involving shaken baby syndrome. Roberson would be the first person in the United States to be executed for this type of conviction. 

During the recent hearing, Roberson's defense team argued that advancements in medical science since his original trial have led some experts to change their opinions about the cause of death. Despite these arguments, the judge granted the prosecution's request and set the execution date, following a previous postponement by Texas lawmakers.

Execution date set for Texas man convicted of murdering daughter

For that, let's go to the state of Texas now for a hearing, a testimony on the case of a man convicted of murder related to shaken baby syndrome. Now, prosecutors want Robert Roberson to be the first person in the country executed for shaken baby, while his defense team fights to prove his innocence. So a lot to break down here, and watching it all is CBS News correspondent Chanel Call. What's happening today in that case? Well, Reid, that court hearing just wrapped up a couple of moments ago here in East Texas. This was an opportunity for the court to set a date. That's what it started out as for Robert Roberson's execution. But the defense started this hearing by urging the judge to actually withdraw the execution date. They were arguing that there isn't a legal reason, perhaps a political reason, to set this date, essentially, Reid, implying that this is unnecessarily being rushed by state prosecutors. The defense here today launched into their case, again, trying to prove that Robert Roberson is innocent. Today, Reid, they were claiming that the science, in fact, has changed so much since the initial court hearing that the experts who testified during his first trial have actually changed their opinions. So at issue here was whether or not Robert Roberson's infant daughter, Nikki, had died of shaken baby syndrome. This is a serious form of child abuse. And Roberson was convicted of shaking Nikki to death back in 2002, and that's why he's on death row right now. Notably, he was scheduled to be executed last October, but a few hours before that actually happened, a bipartisan group of Texas lawmakers stopped the execution from going through. Prosecutors today in the courtroom were pushing for a new date. We knew ahead of this that the attorney general's office was asking for October 16th, and that date was chosen because that would have been a year from when he was supposed to be executed. And just breaking a few moments ago, Reid, the judge granting that request, setting Robert Roberson's execution for October 16th of this year at 6 p.m. Okay, Shanelle Call, thank you so much for that.

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