The Texas Attorney General’s Office is asking the state’s Supreme Court to reconsider its unprecedented order staying the execution of Robert Roberson III so he could testify before a House Committee, in part because of “myriad security and logistical concerns” with bringing a death row inmate to the Capitol.
In a letter obtained by The Dallas Morning News Saturday, the attorney general’s office relayed its security concerns to the committee, stating the Texas Department of Criminal Justice would make Roberson available via teleconference for the Monday hearing.
Lawmakers and Roberson’s legal team previously said Roberson, a Palestine man convicted of killing his 2-year-old daughter more than two decades ago, would appear in person in Austin. The order presents logistical challenges for officials to accommodate a high-security prisoner and crowds likely comprised of media outlets nationwide, curious spectators and protesters.
Whether the committee would push back on the attorney general’s position in the letter was unclear Saturday evening. The lawmaker addressed in the letter, Rep. Joe Moody, the El Paso Democrat who chairs the Texas House Committee on Criminal Jurisprudence, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The Texas Attorney General’s Office and the Texas Department of Criminal Justice, which handles the prison system and carries out executions, also did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Gretchen Sween, Roberson’s attorney, told political news site Quorum Report that Roberson has autism and, as a result, virtual communications are “virtually impossible” for him to use.
”Like most individuals with autism – and one who has been in solitary confinement for 23.5 hours a day for over 20 years, he simply is not able to effectively communicate by talking to an emotionless abyss of a camera,” Sween said in the statement.
The use of Zoom would “unquestionably handicap him” and undercut the purpose of the hearing, she added.
”He wants to come to the Texas Capitol to finally be heard in person — even if he has to wear shackles and chains to do so,” Sween said.
TDCJ officials previously said the department was working with lawmakers to comply with the committee’s subpoena. The letter said TDCJ would make Roberson available virtually in accordance with department policies and “in the interest of public safety” and Roberson’s “well-being.”
In the letter, an attorney with the attorney general’s office instructed lawmakers to “refrain from any further communication” with TDCJ and speak to them, as the department’s legal representation, instead.
In a filing to the Texas Supreme Court, the attorney general’s office echoed its stance in the letter to lawmakers.
“TDCJ has made clear to the house committee that although remote participation via ‘Zoom’ is feasible, Roberson will not appear in person,” the filings asking the high court to reconsider its Thursday ruling reads. “This is due to the myriad security and logistical concerns associated with bringing a death row inmate into the Texas Capitol, which lacks a secure holding area and is not within 80 miles of a TDCJ facility capable of securely housing him.”
Security at the Capitol is handled by the Texas Department of Public Safety. A spokesperson previously declined to discuss security arrangements.
Roberson will be among several witnesses to testify at the committee hearing, state Rep. Jeff Leach, a Plano Republican and one of the architects of the Roberson subpoena, told conservative radio host Mark Davis on Friday.
The hearing will explore the state’s 2013 “junk science” law allowing people to challenge convictions with new science. Roberson’s testimony is needed to gauge how the law was applied in his case, Leach has said.
Staff writer Aarón Torres contributed to this report.