Experts who backed ‘shaken baby’ science now fight to free caregivers from prison

A growing number of medical experts and officials are walking back shaken baby syndrome testimony that put parents behind bars. They face an uphill battle.

Brian Wharton, the chief detective of a small police force in East Texas, had seen his share of tragedies on the job, but he had never handled a case like Robert Roberson’s: In January 2002, Roberson, a 35-year-old single father, arrived at the emergency room with his 2-year-old, Nikki, limp and bundled in a blanket.

Roberson said the girl had fallen from bed overnight, but when nurses and doctors evaluated her severe head injuries, they grew suspicious. Wharton led the investigation.

Robert Roberson with his daughter, Nikki, before her death in 2002.Courtesy Roberson familySpecialists later found that Nikki must have been beaten, violently shaken or both. Roberson denied having harmed her; Wharton believed the experts. On the day the toddler was removed from life support, her father was charged with capital murder. Wharton testified for the prosecution. Roberson was convicted and sentenced to death.

Fifteen years later, Wharton did something extraordinarily rare: He changed his mind. Presented with new evidence that cast doubt on the medical experts’ certainty about what happened to Nikki, Wharton determined that he had made a mistake.

Now, he’s one of Roberson’s most vocal allies. He has attended legislative hearings and written clemency letters declaring his strong belief that Roberson is innocent and shouldn’t become the first person in the United States to be executed based on a “shaken baby” diagnosis.