Advertise on The Last Appeal

In his first original podcast series, Lester Holt takes listeners inside a troubling and urgent case that has captured the attention of people ranging from John Grisham to the Pope. And could end with an execution in just days.

Robert Roberson is scheduled to be put to death on October 16th for the 2002 murder of his two-year-old daughter, Nikki. Prosecutors say he shook the little girl so hard, she suffered a fatal brain injury. That her death was a clear-cut case of “shaken baby syndrome.”

In this five-day podcast event, Lester investigates Roberson’s case with the steady, even-handed approach audiences have trusted for decades.

He digs into the case file, examining the evidence against Roberson and tracking down the people closest to it, ranging from Roberson's divided family in Palestine, Texas to the medical examiner who 20 years later stands by her finding of homicide, to the lead detective who now believes he made a terrible mistake and helped put an innocent man behind bars.

Along the way, Lester meets with medical experts who debunk the science of shaken baby syndrome underpinning Roberson's conviction and he presses people in power for answers.

Finally, Lester takes listeners inside Roberson's countdown to execution, checking in with the extraordinary coalition that has now gathered to try and save his life: including one of the jurors who voted to convict him, and an unlikely bi-partisan team of Texas politicians who have defied both the court system and the governor with unprecedented and historic legislative maneuvers.

With exclusive interviews and immersive storytelling, the series will confront listeners with questions about justice and truth, and perhaps the most haunting question of all: is an innocent man about to be put to death?