Lester Holt: Investigating a looming execution showed me there's no substitute for knocking on doors

"Dateline" anchor Lester Holt returned to his radio reporting roots to examine the case of Robert Roberson, who was convicted of shaking his daughter to death.

In a world where it often seems there is little we can agree on, there is still a universal hope that an innocent person is never executed.

That is what brought me to Palestine, Texas, in September. Before me was a complicated story about an unspeakable tragedy that occurred in 2002: the death of a toddler who was allegedly shaken by her father. It was a case in which seemingly critical evidence had been ignored or discounted.

But the most daunting thing for me, as I began this assignment, was time. The man at the center of our story, Robert Roberson, didn’t have much of it. He was just weeks away from his scheduled execution by lethal injection.

His story caught our attention in part because of an unusual array of supporters who have rallied to save him. A bipartisan group of Texas lawmakers last year subpoenaed Roberson in a bold and successful maneuver that temporarily delayed his execution. The former lead police detective in the case now insists Roberson is innocent, a victim of rushed conclusions, an incomplete investigation and a reliance on outdated medical science about shaken baby syndrome.

Robert Roberson with his daughter, Nikki.Courtesy Roberson familyWhatever the truth, it was clear that this wasn’t a story that I could fully understand from a distance. There were people close to the trial I needed to speak to, including a juror who now believes she got it wrong. There was a nurse who was working the day Roberson brought his nearly lifeless daughter to the emergency room who might help us understand the events that led up to her death. And then there was Roberson’s original defense lawyer, who, according to trial transcripts, accepted the prosecution’s theory that this was a case of shaken baby syndrome.