Death row inmate Robert Roberson is seen in an undated photo provided by the Texas Department of Criminal Justice. Texas' highest criminal court has given a reprieve to Roberson, who was set for execution next week for the... (Associated Press) 
 
 HUNTSVILLE, Texas (AP) — Attorneys who contended "junk science" was used to send a father to death row for killing his 2-year-old daughter 14 years ago have won a reprieve blocking the Texas inmate's execution set for next week. Robert Roberson III, 49, was set to die Tuesday for the February 2002 death of his daughter, Nikki Curtis, at his home in Palestine in East Texas. Texas Department of Criminal Justice/Handout via REUTERS 
 
 The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals on Thursday halted the planned June 21 execution of Robert Roberson and sent his case back to a trial court. In a brief filed with the court this month, his lawyers said new scientific evidence showed that he should not have been convicted and the state relied on “false, misleading, and scientifically invalid testimony.” 
 
 Roberson has contended that the death of the girl, Nikki Curtis, may have been caused by a fall from her bed or a fever of 104.5 degrees Fahrenheit (40.3°C) that led to a visit to a doctor two days before her death.
– A man on death row in Texas has been granted a last-minute reprieve after his lawyers successfully argued he was convicted on "junk science" regarding shaken baby syndrome, Reuters reports. Robert Roberson, who had been scheduled to be executed June 21, was convicted in 2002 of murdering his 2-year-old daughter. According to the AP, Roberson's girlfriend says he was angry when he became the sole caregiver of his daughter, Nikki. That same day, Roberson brought Nikki to the hospital with serious head injuries. Doctors thought they looked intentional and called police. Nikki died the following day. While Roberson maintains Nikki was hurt falling off her bed or from a fever, experts during his trial testified that she died of shaken baby syndrome and that Roberson planned to sexually abuse her. But new research shows that what used to be taken as signs of shaken baby syndrome—brain swelling and bleeding behind the eyes and on the brain’s surface—can also be caused by short falls or undiagnosed medical conditions. Roberson's lawyers successfully convinced eight of the nine members on the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals that Roberson had been convicted on "false, misleading, and scientifically invalid testimony." Nikki never showed any outward signs, such as an injured neck, of shaken baby syndrome. Roberson's case will now go back to trial. (This boy died 12 years after being shaken as a baby.)