Texas House committee does not hear testimony from death row inmate

AUSTIN (Nexstar) -- Robert Roberson, a Texas man on death row convicted of killing his 2-year-old daughter in 2003, was not in attendance to testify at the Friday hearing of the Texas House Criminal Jurisprudence Committee.

It was not a surprise to the lawmakers in attendance after the Texas Attorney General's Office filed a motion Thursday night to try and block Roberson from being transported to Austin to testify.

The House Committee subpoenaed Roberson on Dec. 10 and compelled the Texas Department of Criminal Justice to transport him to the Capitol building, but the Texas Office of Attorney General filed a protective order in a Polk county district court to block that. The filing argued transporting Roberson to the Capitol would create security risks and said the House Committee did not follow procedural rules to issue the warrant.

Both Republican and Democratic House members on the committee took the chance Friday to sound off against the move by the OAG.

"It's filled with dishonest and factually disprovable claims about the process we have engaged in," Joe Moody, D-El Paso, said about the OAG's filing at the start of the hearing. State Rep. Jeff Leach, R-Plano, said the legal move by the attorney general is setting a bad precedent.

"The attorney general telling a standing committee of the Texas House that we cannot communicate with the Texas Department of Criminal Justice," Leach said.

"I will be damned if I'm going to sit idly by and let my children, your children and your grandchildren inherit a state where potentially innocent life can be taken from them by the government absent fair trials and absent due process," State Rep. Brian Harrison, R-Midlothian, said.

The motion from the OAG's office asked the judge in the Polk County court to delay action until Jan. 13, 2025, because Paxton will be out of the country. Lawmakers said this is an attempt by Paxton to push this back because after Jan.14, 2025 the start of the new legislative session, the House Committee will be disbanded.

Leach suggested at the end of the meeting the committee invite Paxton to testify in early January before the committee is disbanded. He added Paxton can join the hearing online since he will be out of the country.

A bipartisan group of lawmakers believe outdated science was used to convict Roberson more than two decades ago, and they believe he deserves a second trial. The state of Texas has a "junk science" law which allows prisoners to challenge their convictions if new scientific evidence shows the evidence used against them was flawed.

Roberson was scheduled to be executed earlier this year but it was halted when the House Committee subpoenaed Roberson to testify before them a week after his execution date. Last minute legal battles halted the execution for now. The Texas Supreme Court said in a filing that a legislative subpoena could not be used to block a scheduled execution, but if it did not affect a scheduled execution then it can be allowed.

Roberson's execution date has not been rescheduled. The district attorney in Anderson County would have to request an execution date and that has not happened yet.

Mark Donnelly, a former senior advisor to the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Texas, who assisted the Texas House of Representatives with the investigation of Paxton that led to his impeachment trial, said the legislature has the right to explore all types of information that would be under their purview to help them enact and tweak legislation.

Donnelly said the ruling from the Texas Supreme Court in November essentially said one branch of government can not take some action that interferes with the procedures of another branch of government.

"Trying to limit the sources from which they can seek information definitely poses a risk for the long-term ability for any committee, or the legislature, to further their legislative functions," Donnelly said.