Death row inmate Robert Roberson won’t yet testify before Texas House
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(HUNTSVILLE, TEXAS) — Robert Roberson — whose murder conviction in the death of his 2-year-old daughter has come under scrutiny — did not testify Monday before the Texas House committee as previously planned.
Committee members decided against having Roberson address the hearing via video call. However, they did not state whether Roberson would or would not testify before the committee.
“Robert is a person with autism who has significant communication challenges, which was a core issue that impacted him at every stage of our judicial of our justice system,” said state Rep. Joe Moodie. “He’s also spent most of the last two decades alone, locked away from the modern technology we now take for granted. Video conference is poorly suited for Robert specifically to provide his testimony and would only further the harm he’s already suffered.”
Still, the committee continued its hearing on a law that Roberson himself attempted to use to challenge his conviction based on a clinical diagnosis that could be related to different causes.
“I was one of the 12 jurors on the case of Robert the trial, and I took that position very seriously,” a juror on the case told to the House committee on Monday:
“Everything that was presented to us was all about ‘shaken baby syndrome,’ That is what our decision was based on,” she continued. “Nothing else was ever mentioned or presented to us to consider. If it had been told to us, we would have now, I would have had a different opinion. And I would have found him not guilty.”
Among the witnesses speaking before the committee was Dr. Phil McGraw, the talk show host and forensic psychologist. He argued that if legislators execute Roberson, “the death penalty could come under real attack.”
“When we talk about due process and fair trial, that means that all the evidence, everything that is relevant and pertinent to that trial, gets before the trier of fact, whether it be a judge or a jury, and that there’s fair representation and I certainly don’t think that standard has been met here that that high standard by which we would deprive someone of their life has been met,” McGraw said.
Roberson was set to become the first person to be executed in the U.S. based on a death attributed to “shaken baby syndrome,” although several lawmakers, scientists and public figures have cast doubt over the cause of death.
He was set to be executed on Oct. 17. The U.S. Supreme Court had previously decided not to intervene in the case, the Texas Supreme Court issued a temporary stay in the case in what were supposed to be his final hours.
Roberson was found guilty of the 2002 murder of his 2-year-old daughter, Nikki, in part, based on the testimony from a pediatrician who described swelling and hemorrhages in her brain to support a “shaken baby syndrome” diagnosis.
However, evidence not shown to the jury at the time states that Nikki had chronic interstitial viral pneumonia and acute bacterial pneumonia at the time of her death and had been prescribed respiratory-suppressing drugs by doctors in the days leading up to her death, and had fallen from her bed the night before her death.
Additionally, Roberson’s autism affects how he expresses emotion — a concern that was also presented against him in his arrest, according to his legal team.
Former film producer Harvey Weinstein appears in Manhattan Criminal Court for a pretrial hearing, following his overturned sex crimes conviction, in New York City, July 19, 2024. (KENA BETANCUR/POOL/AFP via Getty Images)
(NEW YORK) — Harvey Weinstein’s criminal sexual assault case is scheduled to return on Wednesday to a Manhattan courtroom — and if Weinstein shows up he will be arraigned on a new indictment.
The charges remain sealed until Weinstein appears. The former movie mogul missed his last court date after being rushed to the hospital for emergency heart surgery.
The Manhattan District Attorney’s Office presented to the grand jury allegations of three separate women who said Weinstein sexually assaulted them. Their allegations were not part of the initial trial of Weinstein that ended in a conviction, which was later overturned on appeal.
“We will do everything in our power to retry this case, and remain steadfast in our commitment to survivors of sexual assault,” a spokeswoman for Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg said in a statement earlier this year, when the conviction was overturned.
Weinstein has denied all claims of sexual misconduct, saying his encounters were consensual.
John Norwood, who was injured as Hurricane Helene made landfall, speaks with “Good Morning America” about his missing fiancé, Oct. 1, 2024. (ABC News)
(NEW YORK) — As Helene swept through North Carolina last week, John Norwood and his fiancé, Julie le Roux, sought shelter at a neighbor’s house.
As they attempted to wait out the worst of the storm, which made landfall in Florida as a Category 4 hurricane, a mudslide destroyed the home they had taken shelter in.
“We looked outside and there was a 30-foot-tall wall of water and rocks and tree debris just coming at us,” Norwood told ABC News.
The debris knocked the house “straight down,” flushing out those who had been huddled inside, he said, adding, “And we all got washed downriver.” Norwood was rescued, but le Roux is still unaccounted for, he said. She’s one of hundreds of people who are unaccounted for after the storm, according to officials.
The storm was “unprecedented” for western North Carolina, requiring an “unprecedented response,” Gov. Roy Cooper said Monday. At least 40 people were killed by the storm in Buncombe County, in the western part of the state, local officials said Monday.
Hundreds of people were missing or unaccounted for as of Monday throughout the southeastern United States, Homeland Security adviser Liz Sherwood Randall said as she gave a lengthy update on the federal response to Helene, including a warning that much is still unknown about the situation.
“When I said there could be up to 600 people lost my point was, there 600 people unaccounted for,” Sherwood Randall said. “That’s the number we’re tracking right now and that we can essentially validate from multiple sources.”
But, she added, there was still uncertainty in that number. It included many who hadn’t been heard from, but they may just be out of contact, she said.
“And as the president said this morning, we’re very hopeful that some of those people just don’t have cell phones working and actually are alive,” she said.
Elsewhere in North Carolina, there were gas lines stretching from stations, as survivors waited for fuel. Officials were busy supplying water and ready-to-eat meals, Will Ray, the director of the state’s Emergency Management agency, said.
In Marion, a city in the state’s hard-hit western area, rescuers used a pulley system to pull Norwood to safety, carrying him over rushing flood waters. A ceiling rafter had crushed his legs, he said, but at least he was rescued. He said he hasn’t seen le Roux since the mudslide hit.
“I crawled around screaming, looking for her,” he said as he fought back tears, “and I just couldn’t find her.”
(MEMPHIS, Tenn) — Graceland, the iconic Memphis home of the late Elvis Presley, is one of America’s most recognized residences, only second to the White House. That’s why the announcement of its public auction in May caused shock and confusion among the legendary musician’s fans.
Ultimately, this incident highlighted the rising issue of alleged deed fraud.
The scandal began last spring when Naussany Investments & Private Lending LLC filed a lawsuit and announced a foreclosure sale for Graceland, claiming that Lisa Marie Presley, Elvis’ daughter who died in 2023, had borrowed $3.8 million and used the property as collateral.
The actor Riley Keough, Lisa Marie’s daughter, responded by filing a countersuit, seeking to enjoin the auction alleging fraud and claiming that Naussany Investments was nonexistent and had no rights to the property. This allegedly criminal plot to steal Graceland from under America’s nose caused outrage among Elvis fans.
The Memphis mansion is significant and widespread because it has been hallowed ground for generations of Elvis fans, from lovestruck teenagers in the 1950s to those inspired by his legacy today.
“People have been trying to take from Elvis since Elvis was Elvis,” Joel Weinshanker, managing partner of Elvis Presley Enterprises, told “GMA3” co-anchor Eva Pilgrim. “Elvis was a human being. He was a really good human being. He treated people really well. He lived here. He loved it here. He died here. He’s buried here. His parents are buried here. His daughter is buried here. Pick on somebody else. Have a heart, have a conscience. And even if you don’t have a heart or have a conscience — know that you won’t get away with it.”
The mansion was also home to Lisa Marie, Elvis’ only child. Her life in the spotlight and tragic death have fascinated the public since the day she was born — as the King of Rock and Roll’s princess.
Shortly after Elvis died in 1977, Lisa Marie became the sole heir to her father’s financially troubled estate, which at the time included only a few million dollars in cash and Graceland. Lisa Marie’s life seemed to stabilize when she married musician Danny Keough at the age of 20.
They had two children, Riley and Benjamin Keough. However, that stability didn’t last. She struggled with drug addiction, marriages to Michael Jackson and Nicolas Cage, and the tragic 2020. suicide of her son Benjamin.
“We could all feel it coming,” Riley Keough said in Lisa Marie memoir “From here to the Great Unknown.” “We all knew my mom was going to die of a broken heart.”
Lisa Marie fiercely defended her family’s legacy. One of her last actions was to approve director Baz Luhrmann’s Oscar-nominated 2022 film “Elvis,” insisting that it highlight how her father’s musical success was rooted in his appreciation for Black culture.
“He loved gospel music and would sit outside of the blues bars,” Lisa Marie said in an interview with ABC News. “He was influenced by and raised by this. We had this conversation with Baz that it was, you know, shown that that is — that’s where he got his influence from, that’s where it started for him.”
Lisa Marie made her final public appearance at the Golden Globes on Jan. 10, 2023, when Austin Butler won the best actor award for his portrayal of Elvis. Two days later, she died. Her cause of death was reported as complications from bariatric surgery she had undergone several years earlier.
Her funeral was held at Graceland with fans lining the streets, hauntingly reminiscent of how they grieved her father more than 45 years earlier.
“She was buried alongside her father and alongside her son at Graceland,” ABC’s Chris Connelly said. “You know, the home that she loved best.”
In a shocking revelation last May, a secret entity known as Naussany Investments claimed that Lisa Marie used Graceland as collateral to take out a $3.8 million loan and had not repaid it.
Consequently, the mysterious company announced its intention to auction the property off.
“It was not thoroughly implausible to imagine that Graceland might be on the block because of something that Lisa Marie had done when she was in arrears,” Connelly said.
Keough took her role as trustee of the estate seriously, with her lawyer Bradley Russell who filed a countersuit.
In the countersuit, Riley claimed that her mother did not borrow anything and that the loan documents are forgeries.
The investigation into the alleged fraud ranged far from the iconic mansion to Florida, where they an unlikely savior in notary Kimberly Philbrick lives. An alleged fake notary seal emerged as the potential smoking gun.
“We sent our private investigator out to find the notary public who allegedly notarized these documents in 2018 to interview her and to get an affidavit from her saying that this never happened, she never notarized anything,” Russell said.
When a private investigator approached Philbrick at her workplace in Holly Hill, Florida, Philbrick said she was shocked to discover fraud had been committed in her name. She alleged that she knew right away something was off; she swore in an affidavit that it wasn’t her signature.
“Had I ever met Lisa Marie Presley? Did I sign the document? Did I notarize it? No, no, no,” Philbrick said.
Based on Philbrick’s affidavit, Keough’s lawyers hurried into court to prevent the sale of Graceland. A judge issued a temporary injunction the day before it was scheduled to be auctioned.
It took nearly three months longer to locate the alleged mastermind. In mid-August, Lisa Findley was arrested in the Ozarks. She was apprehended on Aug. 16, the 47th anniversary of Elvis’ death. Federal prosecutors charged the Missouri woman with mail fraud and aggravated identity theft.
They alleged that Findley exploited the public and tragic events in the Presley family for her personal gain.
Investigators allege that Findley used aliases to create fraudulent loan documents and that she published a fake foreclosure notice in a Memphis newspaper, announcing plans to auction off Graceland to the highest bidder. Findley has pleaded not guilty and is in jail awaiting trial. She and her attorneys did not respond to ABC News’ request for comment.
Keough expressed her intention to preserve Graceland as both a museum and a home, just as her mother would have wanted.
“Still to this day, people going through the house, and there’s just this, like sort of love that just doesn’t stop,” Keough said on WABC’s Live with Kelly and Mark in 2023. “And I really love that.”
ABC News Studios’ “IMPACT x Nightline: Stealing Graceland” streams on Hulu beginning Thursday, Oct. 31.
ABC News’ Ely Brown, Sasha Pezenik, Jared Kofsky and Josh Margolin contributed to this report.
