Texas to ask for new execution date for death row inmate Robert Roberson at hearing

A hearing Wednesday will determine whether Texas can proceed with a new execution date for Roberson, who would be the first put to death in the United States in a case of so-called shaken baby syndrome.

A hearing on Wednesday will determine whether Texas can proceed with a new execution date for condemned inmate Robert Roberson, who would be the first put to death in the United States in a case of so-called shaken baby syndrome.

Roberson, 58, faces a possible execution in the 2002 death of his 2-year-old daughter, Nikki. His case has drawn attention from a bipartisan group of Texas lawmakers who successfully halted his death in October with only hours to spare after a flurry of eleventh-hour legal maneuvering.

Since then, Roberson had been in limbo after filing another appeal earlier this year in a bid to win a new trial, while prosecutors pushed ahead for another execution date.

The office of Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton had requested last month that the Anderson County District Court schedule the new date for Roberson, writing in a motion that "the criteria for setting an execution have been met." Paxton has requested an Oct. 16 execution date, one year after his execution was halted.

Smith County District Judge Austin Reeve Jackson is set to hear arguments about the attorney general's request.