As I write these words, Robert Roberson still sits on death row. But he is still alive, and another scheduled date for his execution is in the rear view mirror. This is what has so far prevented the execution of Roberson. In 2013, Texas enacted a specific legal avenue allowing prisoners to challenge allegedly wrongful convictions by arguing that changes in the field of forensic science have undermined the conviction or, in the alternative have exonerated the prisoner completely. This is popularly known as the "Junk Science Law" -- formally Article 11.073 of the Texas Code of Criminal Procedure. The "shaken baby syndrome" [or "abusive head trauma"] is the key here. A medical/physical fact like a bruise, a fever, a broken bone is often consistent with several hypotheses about cause. No trauma by itself tells us it was the consequence of abuse. That is an inference that, in a criminal trial, the finder of fact, paradigmatically the jury is supposed to d...