But thank God that separation of powers was preserved.
The Texas Supreme Court on Friday ruled a House committee overstepped its authority when it effectively stalled Robert Roberson’s execution by issuing an eleventh-hour subpoena.
The ruling clears the way for prosecutors to seek a new execution date for Roberson. But the court also gave the green light for the committee to call Roberson to testify before them in the meantime — as long as his appearance does not delay any future execution. Roberson would be the first person executed for a murder conviction tied to shaken baby syndrome.
It is the latest twist in an unprecedented legal and political saga surrounding the Roberson case, which drew national attention and sparked fresh rifts within the Republican party. Members of the House committee butted heads with GOP state leaders, including Gov. Greg Abbott and Attorney General Ken Paxton, who said the panel was acting beyond its power and refused to allow Roberson to testify.
In a 31-page ruling, Justice Evan A. Young said the committee does have the authority to subpoena Roberson, but that doing so just hours before his execution last month violated the separation of powers provision of the Texas Constitution.
The Committee on Criminal Jurisprudence issued its subpoena a day before Roberson was set to be executed. Abbott, who had resisted calls from lawmakers to grant a reprieve in the case, argued the panel was usurping state clemency power left solely to him.
“The committee’s authority to compel testimony does not include the power to override the scheduled legal process leading to an execution,” Young wrote. “We do not repudiate legislative investigatory power, but any testimony relevant to a legislative task here could have been obtained long before the death.”
Still, Young wrote, “there remains a substantial period between now and any potential future rescheduling of Roberson’s execution.”
“If the committee still wishes to obtain his testimony, we assume that the department can reasonably accommodate a new subpoena,” he wrote.
[…]
State Rep. Joe Moody, an El Paso Democrat who chairs the committee, cheered the ruling.
“The Supreme Court strongly reinforced our belief that our committee can indeed obtain Mr. Roberson’s testimony and made clear that it expects the executive branch of government to accommodate us in doing so,” Moody said in a statement.
Roberson’s attorney Gretchen Sween said in a statement that the ruling “hopefully gives time for those with power to address a grave wrong.”
“Robert is innocent,” Sween said. “Given the overwhelming new evidence of innocence, we ask the State of Texas to refrain from setting a new execution date.”
The Anderson County district attorney did not respond to a request for comment on whether she would seek a new death warrant in the case. The attorney general’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
See here and here for previous background from me; this case was also featured twice in Dispatches from Dallas. A copy of the opinion is here. Call me old-fashioned, but I would prefer to spend more time on the fact that the case against Roberson is garbage, resting entirely on a thoroughly debunked medical claim plus some prejudice against the autistic Roberson. That’s not SCOTx’s purview, I understand, I’m just saying they’re allowed to say something. The power to do something rests with Greg Abbott, who as previously noted doesn’t give a damn, and the Court of Criminal Appeals. Normally the CCA is a place where hope goes to die, but as it happens one of the CCA judges caught up in the Ken Paxton purge this November was Sharon Keller, so maybe – just maybe – there’s a chance that a different set of them could come to a different conclusion. I wouldn’t count on it, but it’s about all Roberson has unless the local DA changes its mind. The Trib has more.