Texas panel delays execution, telling lower court to consider scientific issues
United Methodist minister has been most visible advocate for prisoner
A Texas appeals court today postponed the execution of a man who authorities say murdered his two-year-old daughter in 2002 by violently shaking her. And there is no one who has watched the case more carefully than a United Methodist minister who has ceaselessly advocated for the accused man, Robert Roberson, consistent with his church’s position that the death penalty is an assault on human dignity and the God-given value of all people.
Ironically, that pastor, the Rev. Brian Wharton, was a police detective in 2003 when he was a key witness in the trial that led to Roberson’s conviction and capital sentence.
As is common with many death-penalty cases where the defendant fights imposition of the sentence, Roberson’s case has a convoluted legal history. And it has taken on political overtones in a state where the governor, Greg Abbott, is a strong supporter of the death penalty. What makes Roberson’s case unusual, although far from unprecedented, is that he has a plausible claim of innocence, one that has convinced even some people, such as Wharton, who were involved with putting Roberson on death row.
The Texas Court of Appeals this morning issued a per curiam decision, meaning it was unsigned and unanimous, to stay Roberson’s execution and remanding the case to a trial court. But that unanimity masked the sharp divisions in the court, as five concurring opinions and six dissenting opinions were filed with the court order. Presumably because of those divisions, the appeals panel directed the trial court to consider one issue and one issue only — whether Robertson has met the requirements of a Texas law that allows reconsideration of a case there is scientific evidence available that could exonerate a person where such evidence was not available during the trial.
Evidence suggests that the young child had health problems that could have led to her death without being violently shaken. Another scientific matter not considered at the trial is that Roberson’s autism could have been a factor in his not displaying strong emotions about his daughter’s death when he was first questioned about it in 2002.
Because of being limited to considering application of the law on scientific evidence, the trial court won’t be able to consider issues such as alleged misconduct in prosecuting the case.
In a video published by The New York Times last year, Wharton explained some of the reasons he has fought for clemency for Roberson: “I helped put him here and he didn’t deserve it,” Wharton said, adding that “this case has been a burden on my heart and my spirit” and that there is “unassailable doubt” that Roberson is guilty.
Wharton also briefly discussed the moral issues behind the death penalty:
We claim to be a pro-life state, and yet we stack them up in the death house faster than anybody else. ... Humans are too fallible to do this fairly. We make mistakes. I made a big mistake. It’s a weight I will carry for the rest of my life.
The death penalty and Methodists
The United Methodist Church, one of the country’s largest church denominations despite a split over the past two years, has formally opposed the death penalty. Units of the church have been especially active in opposing capital punishment in Texas, which along with Alabama has been one of the states where executions are held most often.
This is how the church explains its stance, in part, on its website:
As Christians, we believe in a God who rejected the Cross and rejects capital punishment. We believe in a God who came “that they may have life, and have it abundantly.” (John 10:10) ...
Speaking through the prophet Ezekiel, God says, “I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but rather that they turn from their ways and live.”
Jesus teaches us to forgive those who have done us wrong. He says, “if you do not forgive others, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.” (Matthew 6:15) He instructs us to “love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.” (Matthew 5:44)
When confronted with a crowd about to implement the death penalty, Jesus says, “Let anyone among you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.” (John 8:7)
The United Methodist Church says, “The death penalty denies the power of Christ to redeem, restore, and transform all human beings.” ... As Wesleyans, we believe that God’s grace is ever reaching out to restore our relationship with God and with each other. The death penalty denies the possibility of new life and reconciliation.
Other churches and the death penalty
Many other mainline Protestant churches have viewed the death penalty similarly. The Presbyterian Church (USA), for example, has called the death penalty “an expression of vengeance which contradicts the justice of God on the cross.”
The Catholic Church, under the direction of Pope Francis, added a statement to its Catechism in 2018 stating that the death penalty is “inadmissible” as “an attack on the inviolability and dignity of the person.”
Evangelical Protestant churches, in contrast, have been divided on the issue.
In 2015, the Board of Directors of the National Association of Evangelicals issued this statement:
Evangelical Christians differ in their beliefs about capital punishment, often citing strong biblical and theological reasons either for the just character of the death penalty in extreme cases or for the sacredness of all life, including the lives of those who perpetrate serious crimes and yet have the potential for repentance and reformation. We affirm the conscientious commitment of both streams of Christian ethical thought.
The Southern Baptist Convention, the country’s largest evangelical denomination, endorsed capital punishment at its 2000 convention. The convention adopted a resolution pointing to Genesis 9:6 as authorization: “Whoever sheds man’s blood, his blood will be shed by man, for God made man in his own image.”
A statement issued by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, the nation’s third-largest Christian denomination after Catholics and Southern Baptists, says: “We neither promote nor oppose capital punishment.”