![\"Robert](\"https:\/\/dmn-dallas-news-prod.cdn.arcpublishing.com\/resizer\/v2\/TZS5GWCW3BCUVL7GUECVKMIFAA.jpg?auth=6f372584c4d2d50d971b82328b1e297ad1da4ed37a5c48c8d2bcece42b65095b&quality=80&width=830\")
<\/p>\nA month out from his third execution date, Robert Roberson is not ready to die. John Grisham is embarking on his next legal thriller \u2014 and he\u2019s leaving its ending up to the state of Texas to decide.<\/p>\n
In what will be the third nonfiction project of Grisham\u2019s decades-long career, \u201cSHAKEN: The Rush to Execute an Innocent Man,\u201d is set to publish June 9, 2026. The book will chronicle the story of Robert Roberson III, an East Texas man at the center of a contentious \u201cshaken baby syndrome\u201d case, who, for the third time, faces execution on Oct. 16.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re watching in slow motion as the clock ticks, as this disaster unfolds,\u201d Grisham, 70, told The Dallas Morning News last week in a sit-down interview. \u201cI\u2019m just here to tell the story, and I\u2019m doing it because we know right now what\u2019s about to happen and we\u2019re trying to get it stopped.<\/p>\n
Crime in The News<\/p>\n
\u201cWho knows if we\u2019re going to be successful?\u201d<\/p>\n
Novelist John Grisham, who is working on a book about Robert Roberson, poses for a photo at Onalaska First United Methodist Church in Onalaska, TX on Sept. 3, 2025. Rev. Brian Wharton, the former lead Palestine detective on Roberson’s case back in 2002, leads the church.<\/p>\n
Juan Figueroa \/ Staff Photographer<\/p>\n
Roberson, 58, formerly of Palestine, was condemned in 2003 for the death of his 2-year-old daughter, Nikki. His prosecution, in part, relied on proving Nikki showed a triad of symptoms associated with \u201cshaken baby syndrome,\u201d a medical determination that has since been heavily scrutinized by experts.<\/p>\n
Roberson\u2019s attorneys have long maintained that no crime occurred, arguing a multitude of evidence gathered since trial proves Nikki died of natural and accidental causes, including severe, undiagnosed pneumonia and a fall from bed.<\/p>\n
Roberson was previously scheduled to be executed in June 2016, and again in October 2024. The latter gained national attention when a bipartisan group of Texas lawmakers intervened by subpoenaing him to testify before a House committee.<\/p>\n
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton ultimately thwarted two attempts to bring Roberson to the state Capitol to testify, while others, including Grisham, spoke on Roberson\u2019s behalf.<\/p>\n
\u201cRobert\u2019s trial was grossly unfair,\u201d Grisham said then. \u201cThe science was terrible. The science has been debunked and discredited and disproven now for the past 15 years \u2014 we know it\u2019s bad science.\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Robert Roberson, an East Texas man facing execution for the death of his 2-year-old daughter, poses for a photo at the TDCJ Polunsky Unit in Livingston, TX on Wednesday, Sept. 3, 2025.<\/p>\n
Juan Figueroa \/ Staff Photographer<\/p>\n
In \u201cSHAKEN,\u201d Grisham plans to explore \u201cthe many failures that led to a blameless man\u2019s death sentence, and a justice system more eager for a conviction than the truth.\u201d<\/p>\n
He said he hopes the exposure will encourage those \u201cwho have the power\u201d to look over Roberson\u2019s case again.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe has a very strong legal team, a very strong medical and scientific team, with plenty of new proof to get back into court and, maybe one day, have an exoneration and walk out of prison,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat would be the perfect ending, and that\u2019s what we\u2019re aiming for.\u201d<\/p>\n
Introduction to the Case A month out from his third execution date, Robert Roberson is not ready to die. John Grisham is embarking on his next legal thriller \u2014 and he\u2019s leaving its ending up to the state of Texas to decide. In what will be the third nonfiction project of Grisham\u2019s decades-long career, \u201cSHAKEN: […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":13115,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rank_math_lock_modified_date":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-13113","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-crime-reports"},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/dmn-dallas-news-prod.cdn.arcpublishing.com\/resizer\/v2\/THGAYGZ6WZBDDAISKKPS3UTRHQ.jpg?auth=b8c440a99e3b9001b27830df5697670626b2c2ca971b1fbabbf1967f45559f81&quality=80&width=1200&height=630&smart=true","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/dallas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13113"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/dallas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/dallas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/dallas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/dallas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13113"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/dallas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13113\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13116,"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/dallas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13113\/revisions\/13116"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/dallas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13115"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/dallas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13113"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/dallas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13113"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/dallas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13113"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}