Shaken Baby Syndrome

The first ruling of its kind in the country could give people convicted based on SBS testimony a new shot at freedom.

State legislators subpoenaed Robert Roberson one day before the state was set to kill him—an act that delayed the execution. Lawmakers are fighting to let Roberson testify before the state House despite objections from the attorney general and governor.

Despite pleas from state lawmakers, Texas will execute Roberson on Oct. 17 unless Governor Greg Abbott grants a reprieve in his case.

Tasha Shelby was sentenced to life in prison for allegedly shaking her fiance’s two-year-old son to death. But the science around “shaken baby syndrome” has unraveled, and the lead witness against her recanted his testimony.

Medical experts testified that Danyel Smith’s child likely died of natural causes, but Gwinnett County Superior Court Judge Ronnie K. Batchelor rejected a motion to overturn his 2003 murder conviction.

Texas is set to execute Robert Roberson on Oct. 17 for allegedly shaking his baby to death. But numerous experts now agree the theory used to convict Roberson isn’t real—including the detective who helped arrest him.

In a decision last month that could impact other cases, an appellate court ruled that “the very basis of the theory has never been proven.”

Outdated stereotypes and crimes that never occurred create unique challenges for women seeking exoneration.

The medical examiner who helped put Tasha Shelby in prison has since said her son’s death was not a homicide.

Expert says trauma from childbirth, not shaking, led to the death of Danyel Smith’s two-month-old child.

In January, a New Jersey judge said Shaken Baby Syndrome is “akin to junk science.”

Spurred by an Appeal investigation into Michelle Heale’s controversial 2015 case, a law professor is asking New Jersey’s Conviction Review Unit to “correct an injustice” and set Heale free.

A man is serving two life sentences for a crime that, according to his legal team, never occurred.

Accused of shaking a baby to death and facing the death penalty, Amy Wilkerson says she is innocent, but pleaded guilty to spare her life.

Josie Duffy Rice and guest co-host Zak Cheney Rice talk with Radley Balko, opinion journalist at the Washington Post and author of The Cadaver and the Country Dentist, about faulty forensic science.

With Appeal staff reporter Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg.

The state said Michelle Heale shook the baby to death, but some experts say her conviction was based on debunked science.