A bipartisan group of Texas lawmakers on Tuesday called on Gov. Greg Abbott, a Republican, and the state’s Board of Pardons and Paroles to stop the execution of a man convicted of killing his two-year-old daughter in 2002.

Robert Roberson is scheduled to be executed by lethal injection Oct. 17. Prosecutors claimed his daughter, Nikki Curtis, was killed after sustaining injuries caused by being violently shaken.

The petition from 84 lawmakers from the 150-member state House as well as medical experts, death penalty attorneys, a former detective on the case and bestselling novelist John Grisham argue that the case was built on faulty scientific evidence in a rare showing of widespread bipartisan support in the Lone Star State against a planned execution, according to The Associated Press.

“There is a strong majority, a bipartisan majority, of the Texas House that have serious doubts about Robert Roberson’s execution,” Democrat Rep. Joe Moody said at a press conference at the state Capitol. “This is one of those issues that is life and death, and our political ideology doesn’t come into play here.”

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Texas law allows the governor to grant a one-time, 30-day reprieve from execution. But full clemency requires a recommendation from the majority of the Board of Pardons and Paroles, which is appointed by the governor.

Since Abbott was sworn into office in 2015, he has granted clemency in only one death row case, when he commuted Thomas Whitaker’s death sentence to life in prison an hour before his scheduled execution in 2018. Whitaker had been convicted of arranging a plot that left his mother and brother fatally shot and his father wounded.

The lawmakers’ petition argues Roberson’s conviction was based on inaccurate scientific evidence and emphasizes that experts have largely debunked allegations that Nikki’s symptoms were consistent with shaken baby syndrome.

“Nikki’s death … was not a crime — unless it is a crime for a parent to be unable to explain complex medical problems that even trained medical professionals failed to understand at the time,” the petition reads. “We know that Nikki’s lungs were severely infected and straining for oxygen — for days or even weeks before her collapse.”

Texas Rep. Joe Moody, D-El Paso, speaks at a meeting of the House Investigative Committee, June 9, 2022, at the state Capitol in Austin, Texas. (AP)

Roberson, who has maintained his innocence, took his daughter to the hospital in 2002 after he woke up and found her unconscious with blue on her lips. Doctors at the time were skeptical of Roberson’s claim that his daughter had fallen off the bed while they were sleeping, with some testifying at trial that her symptoms were consistent with the signs of shaken baby syndrome.

Many medical professionals now say that doctors diagnose shaken baby syndrome too soon before taking into account a child’s medical history.

The medical experts who signed on to the petition include those from Stanford University Medical Center, the University of Pennsylvania and Children’s Minnesota Hospital.

Roberson’s attorneys said his demeanor was wrongfully used against him, as he is autistic, and that doctors failed to rule out other medical explanations for the infant’s symptoms, including pneumonia.

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Texas Governor Greg Abbott makes an announcement on the future of the space industry in Texas, at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas, on March 26, 2024. ((Photo by SUZANNE CORDEIRO/AFP via Getty Images))

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The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals previously halted his execution in 2016. However, last year the court allowed the case to resume, and a new date was set to carry out Roberson’s death.

Prosecutors maintain that the evidence against Roberson remains sound and that the science of shaken baby syndrome has not changed as much as the defense argued.

Brian Wharton, a former chief of detectives in Palestine, Texas, who helped in Roberson’s prosecution, signed the petition and publicly demanded that the state halt the execution.

“Knowing everything I know now, I am firmly convinced that Robert is innocent,” Wharton said.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) — On the day of the botched Harding Street raid, Dennis Tuttle and Rhogena Nicholas’ dog Star was dead just 18 seconds after narcotics officers arrived at the scene.

That’s just one part of the testimony during day seven of the murder trial of former Houston police officer Gerald Goines.

After a Houston homicide detective finished up three days of testimony on the stand, prosecutors called up Texas Ranger Jeff Wolf, who the District Attorney’s office asked to reconstruct the botched raid.

SEE MORE: Day 6 of Gerald Goines trial yields surprising testimony from HPD homicide detective

Wolf walked jurors through the layout of the home and 3D renderings. He then used various body-worn and surveillance cameras to show a timeline of the shooting.

In that testimony, Wolf showed that the first narcotics officer’s feet hit the ground on Harding Street at 5:27 p.m. on Jan. 28, 2019.

Just 18 seconds later, the front door to 7815 Harding Street would be breached, and the first shot fired.

Wolf testified that he believes Officer Lovings fired the first shot, hitting the couple’s dog, Star.

He said subsequent shots hit Nicholas, who died on the couch. Wolf said Tuttle came from a bedroom and was able to get off, at most, four shots before he was killed.

In the meantime, Wolf testified that the majority of the shots were fired by officers with the Houston Police Department, with at least 40 rounds fired.

Wolf said all but two of the shots happened within the first minute and 22 seconds.

Jurors were seen paying very close attention to the testimony and taking notes.

Wolf will continue to be cross-examined by the Goines defense team on Wednesday.

Prosecutors and defense attorneys say the case could be wrapped up within a few days.

For news updates, follow Miya Shay on Facebook, X and Instagram.

DALLAS – The world’s largest operating steam locomotive is coming through North Texas this week.

Union Pacific’s Big Boy No. 4014 will chug into Dallas on Wednesday, Sept. 18.

This stop will not include events for the public.

The train will make a stop at a private Union Pacific Event on Wednesday.

It will then leave Dallas at 9 a.m. and make its way to Hearne.

The train will be back in North Texas next month.

It will be in Fort Worth from October 10 to October 13. The train will be at the Fort Worth T&P Station on W. Lancaster Avenue.

Admission to see the Big Boy is free and open to the public from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Thursday, Oct. 10 and from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Friday, Oct. 11.

The locomotive will leave Fort Worth on Sunday, Oct. 13 at 8 a.m.

The stops are a part of the Big Boy Heartland of America Tour, which takes the train through 10 states.

You can track the engine’s current location on Union Pacific’s website.

25 “Big Boys” were built during World War II, but only eight survived. No. 4014 is the only one in operation. 

Big Boy Heartland of America Tour

• Sept. 18-19: Dallas, Texas
• Sept. 20-Oct. 3: Locomotive Maintenance
• Friday, Oct. 4: Hearne, Texas to Houston, Texas
• Oct. 5-Oct. 7: Houston, Texas
• Oct. 8-9: Bryan, Texas
• Oct. 10-13: Fort Worth, Texas
• Oct. 14: McAlester, Oklahoma to Coffeyville, Kansas
• Oct. 15: Coffeyville, Kansas to Kansas City, Missouri
• Oct. 16-17: Kansas City, Missouri
• Oct. 19: Salina, Kansas
• Oct. 20: Hays, Kansas to Sharon Springs, Kansas
• Oct. 21: Sharon Springs, Kansas to Denver, Colorado
• Oct. 22: Denver, Colorado
• Oct. 23: Denver, Colorado to Cheyenne, Wyoming