Death row inmate Robert Roberson won’t yet testify before Texas House
(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.
(NEW YORK) — Amid Florida’s state investigation into the apparent assassination attempt made against Donald Trump, Secret Service Director Ronald Rowe told the former president additional planning and security procedures are needed for him to continue his golf outings.
Trump met with Rowe to discuss future protocol Monday afternoon, sources familiar with the briefing told ABC News.
Trump was encouraged by the acting director to give more or as much notice as possible for golf outings or any type of trip where he would be out exposed to the public.
With more notice, the USSS can request assets from local police to, for example, walk or search grounds before the Secret Service arrives and to station manpower at various locations, sources said.
It’s not clear what changes Trump may make to his golf schedule considering Rowe’s recommendation for increased security and planning.
On Tuesday, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis announced he signed an executive order to launch a state investigation into Sunday’s apparent assassination attempt on Trump at his West Palm Beach golf club, saying “we need trust and transparency.”
During a news conference, DeSantis said he has assigned the state investigation to the Office of Statewide Prosecutor under the supervision of state Attorney General Ashley Moody. The governor said the state has jurisdiction over the “most serious straightforward offense, which is attempted murder,” which could carry a life sentence if the suspect, Ryan Wesley Routh, is convicted.
DeSantis questioned the federal government’s ability to properly investigate and prosecute the second assassination attempt in two months on Trump.
DeSantis said Americans are still waiting to learn the motive for the first attempt on the former president’s life at a July 13 campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, in which a Secret Service sniper killed the suspect after he fired eight rounds with an AR-15-style rifle at Trump from the roof of a nearby building, investigators said. Trump suffered a bullet wound to the ear in the Butler incident and one rallygoer was killed and two were injured.
“In my judgment, it is not in the best interest of our state or our nation to have the same federal agencies that are seeking to prosecute Donald Trump leading this investigation, especially when the most serious straightforward offense constitutes a violation of state law but not federal law,” DeSantis said.
The Department of Justice declined to comment when asked by ABC News for a response to DeSantis’ remarks.
Routh, a convicted felon, was arrested shortly after what FBI officials described as an “apparent assassination attempt” on Trump at the Republican presidential nominee’s Trump International Golf Club in West Palm Beach. Federal prosecutors announced Monday that the 58-year-old Routh has been charged with possession of a firearm as a convicted felon and possession of a firearm with an obliterated serial number.
Routh was allegedly lying in wait on the periphery of the golf course for nearly 12 hours when a Secret Service agent several hundred yards ahead of Trump spotted the barrel of a rifle poking out from the tree line and opened fire on the gunman, the U.S. attorney for the Southern District of Florida said Monday. Routh allegedly ran to a car and drove off, leaving behind a loaded SKS-style 7.62×39 caliber rifle with a scope and two bags, including a backpack, federal officials said.
A citizen helped catch Routh in neighboring Martin County after taking a photo of the suspect’s getaway car and giving it to police, officials said.
The FBI is leading the investigation of the incident and the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Florida is prosecuting the case against Routh.
U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland made his first on-camera remarks Tuesday addressing the suspected assassination attempt.
“I just want to note the FBI is continuing to investigate the apparent assassination attempt of the former president that occurred on Sunday in Florida,” Garland said. “We are grateful he is safe. The entire Justice Department, particularly the FBI, U.S. Attorney’s Office the Southern District of Florida, the National Security Division are all coordinating closely with our local, state law enforcement partners on the ground. We will all work together to tirelessly determine accountability in this matter. We will spare no resource in this investigation.”
On Monday, Markenzy Lapointe, the U.S. attorney for the Southern District of Florida, said at a news conference that the “U.S. Attorney’s Office, the Department of Justice would be unable to carry forth our mission without the invaluable assistance of our federal, state and local law enforcement partners.”
Acting Secret Service Director Ron Rowe Jr. said Monday that Trump was never in the line of sight of the suspected gunman and that the suspect did not get off a single shot.
Trump praised the Secret Service for protecting him during a phone call on Tuesday with ABC News chief Washington correspondent Jonathan Karl.
“I’m fine. The Secret Service did a good job, actually,” Trump said.
Asked by Karl if he thought the Secret Service has a good handle on protecting him during a heightened threat environment in the final days of the presidential campaign, Trump said, “Yeah, I do. I think Secret Service is doing a good job, and they did a very good job the last couple of days. On that event, I thought they were excellent.”
Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, whose agency oversees the Secret Service, also praised Trump’s protection detail during an event hosted by Politico on Tuesday.
“They should be commended,” Mayorkas said.
Mayorkas said agents from the Secret Service eliminated the threat quickly and the agency has increased the former president’s protection.
“We, the United States Secret Service, has indeed enhanced the former president’s security posture so that he is receiving a level of security commensurate with the fact that he’s a former president and on the campaign trail,” Mayorkas said.
Moody said the state investigation into the incident will be handled by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement and the Florida Highway Patrol.
“The people of Florida deserve answers, and we will not stop until we know the truth and how we can best prevent similar attacks in Florida,” Moody said.
Moody said the state agencies will “investigate what happened when something went terribly wrong, when someone was allowed to remain on the periphery of a golf course in a tree line for 12 hours and get within 500 [yards]” of Trump.
Mark Glass, commissioner of the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, said his agency will “hunt for the truth.”
“Florida is a law-and-order state and we will not sit idly by while anybody stonewalls information sharing amongst our law enforcement entities,” Glass said without elaborating. “We know that if we want answers, we’ve got to go get them.”
Routh is being held at Federal Detention Center Miami, according to the Bureau of Prisons inmate locator. He is expected to remain in custody there pending his detention hearing next Monday and likely his trial.
(FLAGSTAFF, Ariz.) — An 8-year-old boy who went missing at Arizona’s Lava River Cave on Wednesday night has been found alive and is being evaluated.
Tzion Maron was reported missing at around 6 p.m. local time on Wednesday after he became separated from his family at the cave, located near Flagstaff, according to the Coconino County Sheriff’s Office.
Before he went missing, the boy was last seen near the cave entrance, according to officials.
His family reported the boy missing after they were unable to find him in the immediate area, the sheriff’s office said.
Patrol deputies and multiple search and rescue teams spent the night and morning scouring the area, before the child was found Thursday afternoon. Officials said it was raining overnight in the area.
The boy was described as just over 4 feet tall and about 50 pounds with brown hair and brown eyes. He was last seen wearing a gray shirt with blue stripes, navy blue pants and sneakers.
The Lava River Cave is a mile-long lava tube cave formed around 700,000 years ago, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Forest Service.
The cave can be as cool as 42 degrees, even in the summer, and there may be some ice inside, the Forest Service said. Rocks in the cave can also be “sharp and slippery” and visitors are told to bring two or three sources of light as it can be “very dark one mile from the nearest light source,” according to the USDA.
(REDLANDS, Calf.) — Police are searching for a couple and their dog who went missing from a California nudist community on Saturday.
Stephanie Menard and Daniel Menard were reported missing on Sunday, according to the Redlands Police Department.
The couple was last seen at their residence on Olive Dell Ranch — a family nudist resort — at around 10 a.m. on Saturday. Their unlocked vehicle was found down the road from the residence that day, according to police.
Stephanie Menard’s purse was found inside her residence along with both their cellphones, according to police.
The couple’s dog, a white shih tzu named Cuddles, is also missing.
“There’s no way that Stephanie or Dan could have walked away from that car,” friend Tammie Wilkerson told Los Angeles ABC station KABC. “She has a cane. It was at home, her purse, their cellphones — things they would never have left at home.”
She added, “They’re very sweet people. There’s not a mean bone in their body at all.”
Daniel Menard also suffers from dementia and is diabetic, according to police.