Two Scheduled Executions / One Held Up So Far

Robert Leslie Roberson III

Texas Set Robert Roberson’s execution for Oct. 17, despite new evidence that he is an innocent man wrongly convicted under the now-debunked shaken baby syndrome hypothesis.

Roberson's death sentence is allegedly a case of "junk science" with his autism also making him seem more heartless. After all, the death of a young child allegedly because of child abuse is horrible. 

But, the death penalty? Texas's sentencing of Robertson led to many people from both parties (along with some big names like John Grisham) flagging his case. The bipartisan lawmakers were able to convince a judge on the day of the execution to grant a stay. 

Meanwhile, a separate attempt to get a stay from the Supreme Court failed via the usual no-comment order. Sotomayor released a statement granting there was no adequate federal jurisdictional hook. No one else joined her statement. 

In her view, the actual innocence claim was compelling enough that an executive reprieve to allow the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles to reconsider the evidence is necessary to avoid a miscarriage of justice. She answered claims that the evidence of innocence was refuted by the state and a state judge.

The basics:

On 01/31/2002, Roberson took his two-year-old daughter to Palestine Regional Medical Center with severe trauma to her head. The victim died from her injuries the next day and Roberson was subsequently charged in her death.

An execution over twenty years later is constitutionally problematic because of delays (Breyer's dissent). 

The doubt that it was a murder at all (including pre-existing health problems) is the biggest issue here. Multiple appeals to stop the execution have been rejected. It is hard to show "actual innocence" once you are convicted. And, there was some evidence of guilt here, even if it is greatly disputed. 

Nonetheless, even if there is not a compelling legal reason to stop it after he was sentenced to death, there appears to be enough doubt not to meet the level of assurance warrant to execute someone. 

Plus, he has been in prison for over twenty years. He has not "gotten off" by any means.  How long the most recent (somewhat absurd time-wise) reprieve will last remains to be seen. 

For now, with the final decision dropping after 8PM local time, the Texas Supreme Court upheld the trial court (after another appellate court overturned). The whole process is a tad absurd at this point. 

Derrick Ryan Dearman

Dearman's lawyers have raised various appeals alleging he was mentally ill and concerning competency of counsel. But, this is another matter. 

Dearman murdered five people, one pregnant. He had a problem with his girlfriend, who rejected him after a violent relationship. Good choice on her part.

Dearman in 2016 went into the house where Laneta  Lester was living and murdered multiple residents by an axe and gun. By some sick bit of irony, Lester herself was not killed. She was kidnapped along with a nephew and later escaped (or maybe he let her go?). 

(Alabama counted the unborn so "six" persons were murdered by their lights.)

An article earlier this year lists him as thirty-six years old. Alabama executing him now is relatively quick as these things go but he decided to end his appeals, rejecting advice from his father and lawyers.  

“I’ve decided to drop my appeals and have my sentence carried out… I was fairly tried and convicted. I agreed with the court’s decision.”

He had hoped that the execution would occur next year. Dearman did not want people to think it was "suicide by execution." His reasoning sounds sane to me and I guess you can give him a smidgen of respect for saying it. 

“No, in one sense. But in my heart, that is the right thing and the only punishment… I know that me being executed, it’s not going to fix things for the victims’ family. It’s not going to bring their loved ones back. It’s the only thing that I could ever do or give to show that... I don’t want to use the words I’m sorry… It’s the only way for not only them, but my family and anybody else witnessing that, that this person is truly remorseful and regrets actions, crimes he’s committed.”

People kill in moments of insanity (colloquially speaking) and his acts were especially unhinged.  

After all, the one person you would think he would kill, he did not. Who knows what he planned to do with her. Either way, it was a horrible waste of life to kill all those people who he had little or no reason to murder. I do not ignore the crimes in these accounts:

The victims were [Joseph] Turner, 26; Robert Lee Brown, 26; Chelsea Marie Reed, 22; Justin Kaleb Reed, 23; and Shannon Melissa Randall, 35. Chelsea Reed was pregnant with her and Justin Reed’s first child. Turner and Randall had a 3-month-old son in the bed with them when they were attacked, but he was unharmed.

I will not label the execution "barbaric" except to the extent the death penalty overall is an act of barbarism. 

This sort of crime will not be deterred because of the death penalty. As to just desserts, I do not think the state killing people via a system filled with problems is an appropriate use of public policy.   

And, yes, even here, we can focus on problems. He had significant mental problems:

Court filings show that, at just four years old, Derrick Dearman displayed symptoms of severe depression and spoke to his mother “about wanting to die.” He was prescribed antidepressants at age 12 and began self-medicating with crack cocaine at 14. That year, Derrick barely survived a car accident that left him feeling that he “should have died.” At 16, he started using methamphetamines, and at 19, he drove his car off the road in an attempt to kill himself. In his early 20s, he was hospitalized in a psychiatric unit. 

His horrible crimes show Dearman as a grave danger to society. Confining him in prison for a long time was quite justified. Execution is another matter.