2 - “I’m Astonished”

Summary

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Dateline NBC: “The Last Appeal”

Episode 2 – "I'm Astonished"

Date: October 10, 2025
Host: Lester Holt

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Overview

In the second episode of “The Last Appeal,” host Lester Holt delves into the case of Robert Roberson, a Texas man on death row convicted of killing his 2-year-old daughter, Nikki. With just days until Robert’s scheduled execution (October 16, 2025), the episode examines the original investigation and trial, the controversial use of "shaken baby syndrome" as forensic evidence, and the efforts of Gretchen Swinn—Roberson’s dogged attorney—to prove his innocence. Through interviews with legal teams, family, and witnesses, Dateline unfolds a tangled narrative where outdated science, ignored medical history, and misunderstood behavior may have cost an innocent man his life.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Robert Roberson’s Claims of Innocence

• Robert maintains his innocence throughout the episode, insisting that he did nothing to harm Nikki.

• Lester directly questions Robert on the eve of his execution:

  • “Did you harm your daughter Nikki?” – “No, sir, I did not harm my daughter.” (01:15)
  • “Did you ever violently shake her?” – “No, sir.” (01:19)
  • “You did nothing that led to her death?” – “No, sir.” (01:22)

• Robert’s version: Nikki fell from bed and accidentally injured herself. He brought her to the hospital, but staff were immediately suspicious and involved police due to doubt about his explanation.

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2. Shaken Baby Syndrome: The Science & the Doubts

• The prosecution’s case against Roberson leaned heavily on "shaken baby syndrome," specifically the classic “triad” of symptoms:

  • Swelling of the brain
  • Bleeding on the brain
  • Bleeding behind the eyes

• Lester Holt revisits the national spotlight on shaken baby syndrome, referencing the 1997 Louise Woodward "nanny trial"—a case that solidified the syndrome’s presence in the public imagination but also drew criticism for using junk science:

  “At her trial, Woodward’s attorney Barry Scheck argued that shaken baby syndrome was junk science." – Lester Holt (05:48)

• Even Dr. Norman Guth Kelch, the syndrome’s pioneer, later distanced himself from overreliance on this diagnosis:

  “To go on to say, every time you see it, it’s a crime. It became a sort of easy way into jail.” – Dr. Norman Guth Kelch (07:15)

• New research indicates the triad of symptoms could have other causes—falls, infections, or loss of oxygen—casting doubt on Roberson’s conviction.

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3. Gretchen Swinn’s Fight for Justice

• Gretchen Swinn, Roberson’s attorney, emerges as the central figure challenging the case’s scientific and procedural integrity:

  “I just always had that hunger. I want to do something meaningful.” – Gretchen Swinn (03:19)

• She quickly became an expert in “shaken baby” science, uncovering that the diagnosis had since been discredited:

  “The shaken baby diagnosis used to convict him had been discredited.” – Gretchen Swinn (07:35)

• Leveraging a Texas law (2013) that permits re-examination of convictions based on “junk science,” Gretchen filed a writ just days before Robert’s execution—a move that stopped the execution and secured a new hearing for Robert.

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4. Overlooked Medical History

• Gretchen’s team examines Nikki’s extensive medical history, contradicting the narrative of her being perfectly healthy.

• Nikki had recurrent infections, fevers, possible seizures, and sleep apnea.

  “I started looking. This child has been sick from day one… almost her entire life, starting at eight days old.” – Gretchen Swinn (11:21)

• Before Nikki died, she was very ill and prescribed Phenergan with codeine (now known to be dangerous for children under two). She had respiratory infections and several ER visits in her final days.

  “We’re talking about a two-year-old child who is having breathing difficulties. Both of these drugs, Phenergan and codeine, are associated with suppressing breathing and causing fatalities.” – Gretchen Swinn (13:20)

• At trial, this medical background was downplayed or ignored by both prosecutors and Roberson’s original defense.

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5. Flawed Defense at Trial

• Roberson’s original lawyer, Steve Evans, failed to argue that Robert was not guilty.

• The defense echoed the prosecution’s theory of shaken baby syndrome, neglecting alternative explanations.

  “This trial was so fraught with due process problems. This guy never had a fighting chance.” – Gretchen Swinn (16:02)

• When confronted with his words in the transcript:

  “Yes, this is a shaken baby case, but no, this is not a murder case.” – Steve Evans (recalling his closing argument) (17:24) “I’m astonished by what you’ve related of the transcript. I defer to the transcript, of course.” – Steve Evans (17:45)

• Evans candidly discusses his priorities:

  “Here’s how you define a win in capital cases. You save their life... Because of the nature of the case.” (18:06)

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6. Understanding Robert: Autism and Misjudged Behavior

• Family and friends describe Robert as gentle and loving, not violent.

  “If a person would kill a child, then why would they bring a child to the hospital?” – Thomas Roberson (21:30)

• Early defense investigator Rex Olson recounts Robert’s quiet, unthreatening nature:

  “He knew that child was injured, and he got up to the hospital. I’ve had two or three of those death cases. They never, ever do that.” – Rex Olson (22:28)

• Gretchen suspects, and confirms, that Robert is on the autism spectrum:

  “He’s like Forrest Gump. He has no guile. He does not lie. He takes everything very literally.” – Gretchen Swinn (24:06)

• Many interpreted Robert’s flat affect (lack of visible emotion) and odd actions (like not calling 9-1-1 or making a sandwich amidst crisis) as evidence of guilt, not realizing these were manifestations of autism—especially when under extreme stress.

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7. Questions About Witness Testimony and Official Pressure

• Gretchen revisits key witnesses who testified against Robert, particularly his then-girlfriend Teddy Cox, whose reliability is questioned:

  “His girlfriend had never told anybody that Robert was abusive. She admitted on the stand she’d been hospitalized for mental health breakdown. Not a credible witness.” – Gretchen Swinn (25:48)

• The most explosive moment comes from Patricia Conklin, Teddy’s sister, who alleges that Child Protective Services tried to coerce both of them into testifying against Robert under threat of removing their children:

  “They were both threatened with having our kids taken away if we didn’t get on board with accusing Robert… Teddy is different, and when she is scared, she tends to tell people what she thinks they want to hear.” – Patricia Conklin (27:21)

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8. Looking Ahead

• Gretchen remains committed to Robert’s case:

  “No one believed him. And that sickens me. I’ve always told him, I’m not walking away from this.” – Gretchen Swinn (18:40)

• The episode ends with Gretchen preparing to locate and interview the detective who led the original investigation, determined to question every aspect of the case.

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• “I almost cannot believe what I’m reading.” – Gretchen Swinn, on reviewing Nikki’s medical records (08:55, 15:53)
• “As a death penalty supporter myself, there are just way too many questions, way too many concerns for us to stay silent on this.” – Lester Holt (28:25)
• “He’s gentle and he worries more about you than he worries about himself.” – Gretchen Swinn (21:02)

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Key Segment Timestamps

• 01:05 – 02:41: Lester Holt’s interview with Robert Roberson on death row
• 03:08 – 04:42: Gretchen Swinn’s background and legal journey
• 05:09 – 07:29: Discussion of “shaken baby syndrome” and its history
• 08:04 – 08:23: Filing the last-minute “junk science writ”
• 10:28 – 15:33: Deep dive into Nikki’s overlooked illnesses and dangerous medications
• 15:53 – 18:06: Flawed legal defense and attorney Steve Evans’ perspective
• 20:33 – 23:11: Family and investigator interviews challenging Robert’s portrayal
• 23:59 – 25:35: Discovery of Robert's autism and how it shaped misinterpretation of his actions
• 26:22 – 27:50: Patricia Conklin’s affidavit about CPS pressure
• 28:13 – 28:38: Preview of next episode and Gretchen’s continued investigation

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Tone and Storytelling

The episode balances methodical investigative reporting with deeply personal accounts from Robert, his family, his legal team, and others. Lester Holt’s narration is thoughtful and empathetic, questioning previously accepted narratives and voicing concern over the reliability of the conviction and the fate of a possibly innocent man.

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Conclusion

This episode of “The Last Appeal” weaves together emerging medical science, law, and the human stories behind a high-stakes death penalty case. It highlights the risks of wrongful conviction and the need for vigilant re-examination of old evidence as scientific understanding evolves. As execution looms, the team’s relentless search for truth continues, raising doubt and demanding justice.

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Transcript

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[Lester Holt]

You'Re about to be put to death yes sir. I have to ask you, did you harm your daughter Nikki?

[Interviewee / Witness]

No, sir, I did not harm my daughter.

[Lester Holt]

Did you ever violently shake her?

[Interviewee / Witness]

No, sir.

[Lester Holt]

You did nothing that led to her death?

[Interviewee / Witness]

No, sir.

[Lester Holt]

Robert Roberson is scheduled to die on October 16, 2025. He's been on death row in Texas for 22 years, convicted of killing his two year old daughter Nikki. Robert insists he's innocent from the beginning. He said Nikki fell out of bed and hit her head. And you told the medical staff that she had fallen?

[Interviewee / Witness]

Yes, sir.

[Lester Holt]

And what did they say to that?

[Interviewee / Witness]

They didn't believe my story. They called the detectives in the police department in.

[Lester Holt]

Did you understand why?

[Interviewee / Witness]

I didn't understand because I brought her to the hospital and stuff, you know. Then the next thing you know, the way they was acting kind of funny and stuff, strange and stuff. Act like I did something, you know.

[Lester Holt]

Robert swears he would have never hurt his little girl.

[Interviewee / Witness]

I'm not sure what happened to her because I can't explain what happened to her exactly.

[Lester Holt]

The state says it knows exactly what.

[Gretchen Swinn]

Happened based on the totality the evidence is upstated. A murder took place here.

[Lester Holt]

But what if Robert is telling the truth?

[Interviewee / Witness]

I saw Robert with Nikki many times. What I saw was a loving father.

[Gretchen Swinn]

If they go through with it, they're killing an innocent man.

[Lester Holt]

I'm Lester Holt and this is the Last Appeal, a podcast from Dateline. Episode 2 I'm astonished. 1, 2, 3, 4. We'll be chatting like this. Hello Lester.

[Gretchen Swinn]

Gretchen.

[Lester Holt]

Pleasure. Thank you so much. Thank you very much. Gretchen Swinn doesn't look like the kind of lawyer who would pick a fight with the state of Texas. You're from Texas, Right.

[Gretchen Swinn]

Right here.

[Lester Holt]

Oh my goodness. She's five foot two, calm, measured, approachable. But beneath that demeanor, Gretchen is a bulldog, relentless.

[Gretchen Swinn]

I just always had that hunger. I want to do something meaningful.

[Lester Holt]

She began her career as an actress in local theater productions. But in her mid-30s, she gave up the stage for law school.

[Gretchen Swinn]

I always had this sort of dueling force in my the sort of artist and then the social activist and had trouble putting them together.

[Lester Holt]

About a decade ago, Gretchen was working at a Texas public defender's office that handles death penalty cases when she first heard the name Robert Roberson. Turns out Robert's upcoming execution on October 16th is not the first time Robert he's had a date to die.

[Gretchen Swinn]

This was like April 2016 and he had a June 2016 execution date. So it was a crisis situation. There was this commotion with Robert who was trying to get lawyers to take on his case. He long claimed he was innocent, and yet nobody had ever investigated that claim.

[Lester Holt]

So one of her colleagues asked her to take a look at Robert's case. Stacks of paperwork landed on her DEs. Gretchen had no clue whether or not Robert was innocent, but she wanted to know more after learning that shaken baby syndrome had been a key argument to prove Robert's guilt.

[Gretchen Swinn]

So I said yes, not really knowing entirely what I was getting into. And there was that race against the clock and got a PhD in shaken baby very fast.

[Lester Holt]

The theory of shaken baby syndrome was this. If a child showed three symptoms. Swelling in the brain, bleeding on the brain and bleeding behind the ey, also known as the triad. There was only one cause, violent shaking.

[Interviewee / Witness]

A young British nanny went to America.

[Lester Holt]

For a job opportunity. Now she's in big trouble, accused of shaking a baby to death. Most of America first heard of shaken baby syndrome in 1997 because of a case that made international headlines.

[Interviewee / Witness]

Today we focus on what has become known as the nanny trial.

[Lester Holt]

Louise Woodward, a British nanny, was charged with murder when Matthew Epon, an 8 month old baby, died in her care. Doctors found that triad of symptoms. Concluding Matthew had been shaken to death.

[Interviewee / Witness]

An angry Woodward lost control, violently shook the little boy.

[Lester Holt]

At her trial, Woodward's attorney Barry Scheck argued that shaken baby syndrome was junk science.

[Interviewee / Witness]

That's not true.

[Lester Holt]

That's not science. That's based on the data. The jury sided with the prosecution.

[Interviewee / Witness]

After 27 hours of deliberation, the jury in the so called nanny trial of 19 year old Louise Woodward came in with a conviction.

[Lester Holt]

The nanny trial sparked an awareness campaign. Billboards on highways, urgent public service announcements.

[Gretchen Swinn]

Some things you shake some things. You don't never, never, never shake a baby.

[Lester Holt]

Prosecutors began to use shaken baby syndrome to charge people with crimes like child abuse or murder. In courtrooms from coast to coast, convictions piled up. Robert Roberson's was one of them. But over time, certainty about the shaken baby diagnosis crumbled. Obviously, shaking a baby can cause catastrophic damage. But new research proved the triad of symptoms could be explained by other things, like a fall, an infection, a loss of oxygen. Even Dr. Norman Guth Kelch, who first suggested the theory in the early 1970s, reversed chorus, warning that prosecutors were overcharging people. Here he is in a 2015 interview with the Retro Report.

[Interviewee / Witness]

I was against defining this thing as a syndrome in the first instance. To go on to say, every time you see it, it's a crime. It became a sort of easy way into jail.

[Lester Holt]

Gretchen thought the controversy about shaken baby syndrome was an opening for Robert.

[Gretchen Swinn]

The shaken baby diagnosis used to convict him had been discredited.

[Lester Holt]

In 2013, Texas had passed a law enabling people convicted on the basis of outdated or discredited science to file something commonly called a junk science writ to request a new day in court. As Robert's 2016 execution date was fast approaching, Gretchen made her move.

[Gretchen Swinn]

We filed within days of the execution. Literally, we ran a box down the street to the court to make sure they back in that point. They wanted paper copies and make sure they had it. We had to file it in Palestine itself. Clock is ticking.

[Lester Holt]

It was a Hail Mary and it worked. A judge halted Robert's execution. But Gretchen's work was just getting started. She'd won Robert a new hearing, a chance to argue that he should be given a new trial. It was going to be an uphill battle. She had to counter the doctors who testified that Nikki had been shaken and abused. So if Nikki wasn't the victim of Shaken Baby, could there be a different explanation? Gretchen was determined to find out.

[Gretchen Swinn]

I almost cannot believe what I'm reading.

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[Lester Holt]

Gretchen Swinn had stopped the clock on Robert's execution. She'd won him a hearing, forcing Texas to re examine the shaken baby science that helped convict Robert. But before she faced a judge, Gretchen wanted to dissect the evidence and find out if anything could have been overlooked. She began by learning about Nikki's medical history. When I spoke with Nikki's grandparents, Larry and Verna Bowman, they told me Nikki had always been a healthy little girl.

[Interviewee / Witness]

I mean, other than regular doctor visits, she never really had no problems. She had her little bouts with colds and stuff like that, but she was in good health.

[Lester Holt]

But that's not what Gretchen read in Nikki's medical records. Far from it.

[Gretchen Swinn]

I started looking. This child has been sick from day one. If you look at her medical records, you see a child who had been sick almost her entire life, starting at eight days old.

[Lester Holt]

In Nikki's short life, she'd suffered from constant infections, repeated fevers, possible seizures. Gretchen saw that Nikki had been taken to a doctor more than 40 times before Robert had custody of her. Not only that, she learned Nikki had experienced episodes of breathing apnea and had been rushed to the hospital by her grandparents on several occasions.

[Gretchen Swinn]

She would inexplicably stop breathing, collapse, turn blue, and then have to be revived.

[Lester Holt]

But to Gretchen, the most explosive information was this. The week Nikki died, she had been terribly sick. When Robert brought Nikki to the Palestine Hospital, it wasn't the first time. He'd taken her there three days earlier, because Nikki had a fever, was vomiting, coughing, congested, and had diarrhea. A doctor prescribed Nikki a powerful drug called Fenergan, a medication that now has an FDA black box warning for children under 2 because of the risk of respiratory failure and even death. The day after Nikki was given that medication. Robert asked her grandparents, the Bowmans, to watch her. He said he wanted to be with his girlfriend Teddy, who was in the hospital recovering from that surgery. But Nikki was getting worse. The Bowmans took her to a doctor again. Her fever had spiked to 104.5 degrees. Nikki was diagnosed with a respiratory infection and given more Phenergan. This time it was mixed with codeine, a narcotic.

[Gretchen Swinn]

We're talking about a two year old child who is having breathing difficulties. Both of these drugs, Phenergan and codeine, are associated with suppressing breathing and causing fatalities.

[Lester Holt]

Nikki's grandparents told us Nikki had always been helpful, healthy. We asked them about her long medical history. How do you reconcile this narrative out there that she was a sickly child?

[Interviewee / Witness]

That's them trying to make people feel sorry for Robert. She had her little colds, you know, obviously we don't know anything but what's in the record from her hospital visits. Yeah. Was that she had sleep apnea. She had surgery on her ears with tubes in. Yeah, she did have that. She had like she had gone to the hospital or the doctor more than 40 times in two years. That's what the record says. Other than her normal visits, she, I mean we took her everywhere she went. I don't know.

[Lester Holt]

What we do know is that 24 hours after the Bowmans took Nikki to the doctor with a 104.5 degree fever, they called Robert telling him to pick her up.

[Gretchen Swinn]

They live out in the country, she's been sick. But he, of course he's going to do right by this child. He goes out there, they put crying Nikki in the car seat and he drives her home to his little rental house.

[Lester Holt]

By the next morning, Robert was driving his daughter back to the hospital saying she'd fallen off the bed. Kelly Gerganis, the nurse who first saw Nikki that morning, said the ER doctor immediately recognized Nikki. He was the same doctor who had prescribed Phenergan three days earlier. When Robert took her there, the doctor.

[Interviewee / Witness]

That assessed her, his words to me were, kelly, what did I miss?

[Lester Holt]

Gretchen hired experts to examine Nikki's records. They concluded she'd been fighting pneumonia and the medication made everything worse.

[Gretchen Swinn]

This child has been sick from day one. Isn't that meaningful yet at trial, all of her medical history was dismissed as minor, insignificant, not relevant to any of this. And that is completely contrary to contemporary medical understanding. It also wasn't accurate.

[Lester Holt]

Robert's jury never heard the extent of Nikki's long medical history. His lawyer, Steve Evans, had a different strategy.

[Gretchen Swinn]

I almost Cannot believe what I'm reading.

[Lester Holt]

As Gretchen studied the trial transcript, she thought Evan sounded more like a prosecutor than a defense attorney.

[Gretchen Swinn]

I mean, this trial was so fraught with due process problems. This guy never had a fighting chance.

[Lester Holt]

Evans never argued Robert was not guilty. Instead, he agreed with the prosecution, telling the jury, this is a shaken baby case. We were confused about that. And when I spoke with Evans, he was too. You make your opening statements, you tell the jury this is not a capital case. This is a shaken baby case.

[Interviewee / Witness]

No, I never told him there was a shaken baby case. I told him it wasn't a shaken baby case. This was an accidental drop case.

[Lester Holt]

I'm looking at the transcript from the opening and you say this is not a capital case and the evidence will not support it. This is, however, unfortunately, a shaken baby case. This seems, seems to have you saying that this was a shaken baby case.

[Interviewee / Witness]

I don't recall ever saying that it was a shaken baby case. That was anathema to my soul, basically, as I recall it. Because if you admit shaken baby, you're admitting the basically mechanics of death. You're admitting that this wouldn't be an accident. This would not be something that was unintentional, it would be intentional.

[Lester Holt]

Evans had just acknowledged to me that his words may have sabotaged his own client. And then at the end of the trial, you're closing arguments. Yes, I came here in opening and presented to you that there is a responsibility in this case. Yes, this is a shaken baby case, but no, this is not a murder case.

[Interviewee / Witness]

Right. I don't believe it was a shaken baby case. And I'm astonished by what you've related of the transcript. I defer to the transcript, of course.

[Lester Holt]

He told us his goal was to persuade the jury that Robert didn't mean to kill Nikki, that even if it was a shaken baby case, her death was an accident.

[Interviewee / Witness]

Here's how you define a win in capital cases. You save their life. I still beat myself up as was there any other way, because to me, the chance of him getting death was very high. Because of the nature of the case.

[Lester Holt]

Gretchen believes Steve Evans failed Robert. She was determined not to do the same thing. And she was about to uncover information about Robert that changed the way she saw him and the entire case.

[Gretchen Swinn]

No one believed him. And that sickens me. I've always told him, I'm not walking away from this.

[Lester Holt]

Robert.

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[Lester Holt]

We've been driving across Texas finding new details about Nikki's short life. But there was more to learn about Robert and who he was in the years leading up to his daughter's death. His younger brother Thomas and his wife Jennifer agreed to speak with me in Palestine, where Thomas and Robert grew up.

[Interviewee / Witness]

When people see his name and they read that he murdered his daughter, they're not reading the whole story.

[Gretchen Swinn]

He's kind and gentle and he worries more about you than he worries about himself.

[Interviewee / Witness]

When Robert finally started seeing little Nicky, he had such a big smile on his face.

[Lester Holt]

Did he ever raise a hand on Nikki that you know of?

[Interviewee / Witness]

No.

[Lester Holt]

Did he spank her or.

[Interviewee / Witness]

I've never seen him spanking her.

[Lester Holt]

Obviously it's, you know, just the idea that someone could kill a child is shocking and difficult to accept.

[Interviewee / Witness]

I mean, if a person would kill a child, then why would they bring a child to the hospital?

[Gretchen Swinn]

We have lots of questions. There's just a lot of things that people aren't taking into account in this story.

[Lester Holt]

One of the first people to ask questions after Robert's 2002 arrest was his court appointed defense investigator, the only one in town. Hey, Lester.

[Interviewee / Witness]

Oh, well, y' all got here good.

[Lester Holt]

Yeah, we stopped off, grabbed a few provisions. His name is Rex Olson. He told us he'd known Robert for years.

[Interviewee / Witness]

He used to deliver my newspaper right here. He'd drive by and put it in there and just say hello.

[Lester Holt]

Rex said he had had other clients accused of child abuse and Robert didn't act like any of them.

[Interviewee / Witness]

He knew that child was injured, and he got up to the hospital. I've had two or three of those death cases. They never, ever do that.

[Lester Holt]

So in your view, he acted like a concerned father would.

[Interviewee / Witness]

Yeah.

[Lester Holt]

What was your impression of Robert once. Once you started working on the case?

[Interviewee / Witness]

You know, he had. Strange thing, this guy. This guy could handle some numbers way above me. He could calculate his money, and his was saving money and stuff. It's. He reminds me of that movie Rain Man. Yeah, There was a little taste of that with him, with Robinson. I don't see him as someone wanting to or really even go to hurt someone.

[Lester Holt]

Gretchen also thought there was something a little different about Robert. She noticed it the first time she spoke with him. It was in 2016, right after she won him that stay of execution and a hearing.

[Gretchen Swinn]

And we had him on speakerphone, and, you know, handful of us were there to try to break the good news, and he sounded like he couldn't comprehend who we were, what had happened. But I also realized this man is so impaired. You know, he had this very pronounced stammer and this sort of childlike way of speaking, and he was trying to explain something about a bag of chips, and suddenly it was like a light bulb for me.

[Lester Holt]

Gretchen had Robert evaluated by a neuropsychologist. He was diagnosed with autism.

[Gretchen Swinn]

As I got to know Robert, as he's so much more than just a very impaired person, the best analogy I can give is that he's like Forrest Gump. He has no guile. He does not lie. He takes everything very literally.

[Lester Holt]

She thought back to those witnesses who had described Robert's demeanor as suspicious.

[Interviewee / Witness]

He had a total flat affect.

[Lester Holt]

No emotion, no.

[Gretchen Swinn]

No nothing.

[Lester Holt]

That's not wrong.

[Interviewee / Witness]

He's not responding to us in a typical way. There was just something off.

[Lester Holt]

How he hadn't called 91 1, how he made a ham sandwich while his daughter was fighting for her life.

[Gretchen Swinn]

He has autism. He's in this state of shock. And one of the fundamental symptoms of autism is that when you're experiencing high stress, you actually shut down. Your ability to convey your emotions becomes even more crippled.

[Lester Holt]

Gretchen was curious if the witnesses who testified against Robert would have felt differently if they'd known about Robert's autism.

[Gretchen Swinn]

Wondered if that would make any difference to some of these witnesses who had judged him really quite harshly as an unfeeling, uncaring person. Because he, you know, they kept talking about, he just sat there. He sat slumped in a chair. He didn't cry. He didn't make eye contact. Well, all of that means something different if you understand his disability.

[Lester Holt]

She jumped in her car and went looking for Robert's girlfriend, Teddy Cox. His girlfriend at the time said he shook Nikki. His girlfriend's daughter and niece said that Robert abused Nikki. It sounds pretty damning.

[Gretchen Swinn]

His girlfriend had never told anybody that Robert was abusive. She admitted on the stand she'd been hospitalized for mental health breakdown. Not a credible witness.

[Lester Holt]

When Gretchen found Teddy, they didn't talk long. Gretchen says Teddy seemed confused and wasn't making sense. Later, Gretchen's private investigator tracked down Teddy's sister, Patricia Conklin, the defense witness at Robert's trial. The investigator asked Patricia to record her sworn affidavit.

[Interviewee / Witness]

Today I'm at the home of Patricia Conklin. Ms. Conklin is going to read a declaration that she had signed in a case that I've been working on, which is the Robert Roberson case. Okay, go ahead, Patricia. I received my nursing degree at Trinity Valley College in 2003. I have been working as a nurse ever since.

[Lester Holt]

Patricia said that Robert was never anything but loving towards his daughter.

[Interviewee / Witness]

But I saw Robert with Nikki many times. What I saw was a loving father. He was attentive, encouraged Nikki to play, and was never dismissive or short with her. I never saw him do anything hurtful to her. Robert does not have a mean bone in his body. He is a little slow, but I never saw him be mean to anybody.

[Lester Holt]

And then Patricia made a jaw dropping accusation. She said Child Protective Services came to speak with her sister Teddy and her before the trial.

[Interviewee / Witness]

Case workers with CPS came to me wanting me to report that I had seen Robert mistreating Nikki. Teddy and I talked about this. We were both threatened with having our kids taken away from us if we didn't get on board with accusing Robert. I'm a stronger person than my sister and had better understanding of my rights. This pressure did not work on me. But Teddy is different. And when she is scared, she tends to tell people what she thinks they want to hear.

[Lester Holt]

We reached out to the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services to ask for comment. The agency declined. We were unable to track Teddy down. Gretchen was now convinced Robert was actually innocent. But there was one more person Gretchen wanted to speak with. An important one. You've done a lot of door knocking.

[Gretchen Swinn]

One of the people I wanted to talk to was the former lead detective.

[Lester Holt]

Next time, on the last appeal, we.

[Gretchen Swinn]

Were able to pray with Robert. It was just a very moving experience.

[Lester Holt]

As a death penalty supporter myself. There are just way too many questions, way too many concerns for us to stay silent on this.

[Interviewee / Witness]

I told her I've kind of been expecting you.

[Lester Holt]

So.

[Interviewee / Witness]

Yeah, come on in.

[Lester Holt]

The Last Appeal is a production of Dateline and NBC News. It is written and produced by Dan Slappian, Liz Brown Kurloff and Lynn Keller. Our field producers are Nick McElroy and Rachel Young. Our associate producer is Sam Springer. It's edited by Colin Dow and Greg Smith, Deb Brown and David Varga. From NBC News, audio sound mixing by Rob Byers, Joe Plourd, Rick Kwan with help from Rich Cutler. Head of audio production is Bryson Barnes. Paul Ryan is executive producer and Liz Cole is senior executive producer of Dateline. Imagine relying on a dozen different software programs to run your business, none of which are connected, and each one more expensive and more complicated than the last. It can be pretty stressful. Now imagine Odoo. Odoo has all the programs you'll ever.

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