A group of lawmakers, led by State Rep. Cody Harris, are siding with the Texas Department of Criminal Justice in the legal battle surrounding some House members’ attempt to exonerate convicted child-murderer Robert Roberson.
Scheduled to be executed last week, the Texas Supreme Court issued a stay after members of the House Criminal Jurisprudence Committee, led by Democrat State Rep. Joe Moody, issued a subpoena for Roberson, raising an issue that’s been called a constitutional crisis.
Roberson was convicted of killing his two-year-old daughter Nikki in 2002 in Palestine, a district represented by Harris.
With the Court preparing to rule on the use of a legislative subpoena as a tool to stop executions, a group of Republicans led by Harris have filed an amicus brief in the case against their colleagues.
“In last week’s frantic run-up to the lawful execution of a convicted baby-killer called Robert Roberson, the House Committee on Criminal Jurisprudence attempted to use its subpoena-and-hearing authority to usurp the Governor’s clemency power,” the letter reads.
The House Committee has continued to use its hearing authority in the days since, attempting to wield the judiciary’s power to re-determine facts and evidence about a capital murder—despite decades of state- and federal-court judges having rejected Roberson’s claims. And now, in this unprecedented case, a single Committee purports to litigate on behalf of the ‘Texas House of Representatives.’ At practically every turn, a single committee of a single chamber of a single branch of government has encroached not only on the prerogatives of two other branches, but also on those of their colleagues in the same branch.
The lawmakers’ letter also criticized the one-sided nature of a hearing that was called ostensibly to get the facts about the case.
“As can happen in a legislative committee hearing, as opposed to an actual court of law, witnesses and committee members alike presented only one side of the story. Indeed, the substantial evidence of Robertson’s guilt was not even presented.”
The letter goes on to recap the gruesome acts Roberson was convicted of and his evolving and changing story throughout the investigation and trial.
“More than 100 votes of state- and federal court judges have reaffirmed Roberson’s conviction and sentence at every turn,” continued the letter.
“[T]hose waging this campaign on a child-murderer’s behalf do not speak for the full Texas House of Representatives.”
The brief comes after Attorney General Ken Paxton released a report detailing the gruesome acts committed by Roberson. That report was rebutted by a group of lawmakers, including State Rep. Jeff Leach (R-Allen) and Brian Harrison (R-Midlothian), on Thursday.
Harris was joined in the brief by State Reps. Greg Bonnen, Mark Dorazio, Tom Oliverson, Cecil Bell, Briscoe Cain, Cole Hefner, and Tony Tinderholt.
