AUSTIN, Texas — After the weekend court filing, one member of the jury that convicted Robert Roberson in 2003 says, if new medical evidence had been presented at the time of the trial, she would have found Roberson *not* guilty.
"In good conscious, I could not live with myself thinking that I had a hand in putting an innocent man to death," Terre Compton said.
Compton, a Palestine resident, and one of 12 jurors in the 2003 Robert Roberson case, testified Monday. Roberson was sentenced to death after being found guilty of killing his infant daughter, Nikki, to what prosecutors believe was shaken baby syndrome. Compton says during the trial, no medical history or evidence suggesting that the infant had been ill most of her life was presented to jurors. Nikki had an unidentified respiratory infection – that was determined to be double pneumonia.
"What I took it as being, is that she basically, I thought she basically was sick and had high fever. I thought she was probably pretty sick, but nobody was ever figuring out what was wrong with her," Compton said.
According to Compton, the defense attorney did not present to the jury other explanations for symptoms related to shaken baby syndrome like swelling in the brain, retinal hemorrhaging, and subdural bleeding. She says they only deliberated on the fact that the child was shaken to death and that there was no evidence otherwise.
"That's what made it so, more or less, this is what it is, because he gave us no other options, or any other type of options that we could have considered," Compton said.
Evidence also found that Nikki's illness progressed over the span of three weeks, and doctors said that at the time of death, her lungs wouldn’t have been capable of absorbing enough oxygen to maintain life. Compton said this information would have changed her original thoughts on the case.
"I would have found him not guilty," Compton said.
Compton says with new developments, speaking up for who she believes is an innocent man, is only right.
"A very big discussion with my husband and with another friend of mine, and there would be times that I'd be talking about it with my husband that I would literally start crying about it," Compton said.
Compton says she was not aware of the minor impact to the infant head, blood and brain swelling or short fall. Also, the jury was not aware the day of trial that Roberson had autism.
Robert Roberson was supposed to testify in court today but did not due to safety concerns. the Texas Attorney General’s office also halted Roberson from testify virtual. Texas law does require a judge to set a new execution date at least 90 days going forward.
It is unclear when a new execution date could be set.