A man from Texas who is scheduled for execution next week is the focus of a renewed clemency effort., supported by several Republican lawmakers. They argue that Robert Roberson's 2002 conviction for the murder of his infant daughter warrants reconsideration. Their pleas to spare Roberson, who is set to die by lethal injection on Oct. 17, comes after Missouri and Oklahoma carried out executions last month over calls to grant two condemned men lesser punishments, underlining how rare clemency remains for death row prisoners, The Associated Press reports. The cases highlight one of a governor’s most extraordinary powers — whether to allow an execution. The clemency process allows a governor, president or independent board to lessen the sentence of a person convicted of a crime. Clemencies are usually a last push by death row inmates to have their sentence reduced after all other efforts in the judicial system have failed.
Historically, grants for clemency are rare. Aside from a few mass orders from governors to commute all death sentences in their state, fewer than two have been granted on average per yea, according to the Death Penalty Information Center. Eighty-six state representatives — as well as medical experts, death penalty attorneys, a former detective on the case and author John Grisham — are supporting Roberson because they believe his conviction was based on faulty scientific evidence. Prosecutors claimed he violently shook his 2-year-old daughter to death from what’s known as shaken baby syndrome. In a letter last month, medical professionals claimed that Curtis’ injuries aligned with pneumonia and not shaken baby syndrome. Prosecutors have argued that the science of shaken baby syndrome has not changed significantly since Roberson’s conviction and that the evidence against him still holds. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott can grant clemency only after receiving a recommendation from the Texas Board of Pardons and Parole. He has commuted a death sentence only once in nearly a decade as governor.
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