Murder & Magnolias - Dateline Presents: The Last Appeal

Episode Date: October 6, 2025

Hey Dateline fans! As a bonus for you, we’re sharing a special preview clip of The Last Appeal, an all-new original podcast series from Dateline and Lester Holt. In this series, Lester Holt takes listeners inside the urgent case of Robert Roberson, a Texas father set to be executed on October 16th for the 2002 death of his 2-year-old daughter. Lester is on the ground in Texas, where he examines the evidence against Roberson and talks to the people closest to the case, including the lead detective, who now believes he helped put an innocent man behind bars. Lester’s exclusive interviews reveal critical information the jury never heard. This 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? To start listening, just search “The Last Appeal”. And remember to follow for new episodes releasing each day this week. For ad-free listening, subscribe to Dateline Premium on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or DatelinePremium.com. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Hello, I'm Lester Holt from Dateline NBC. Here's a special preview of my new podcast, The Last Appeal. I'm sitting in a plastic chair inside the notorious Polanski unit in West Livingston, Texas, death row. Across from me, a man named Robert Robertson. We've got a lot to talk about. Yes, sir. He's a big guy, more than six feet, wearing a white prison jumpsuit.

We're so close, I could shake his hand, if not for the pain of plexiglass between us. On October 16th, Robert is scheduled to die by lethal injection. How are you preparing for your own death, your own execution? I'm at peace if it happens, but I'm not ready because I don't think I should be executed when I'm innocent. In 2003, a jury convicted Robert of murdering his two-year-old daughter, Nikki. Prosecutors say the evidence is overwhelming. Mr. Robertson took the life of his daughter. And I just remember that cold face, and I look, and that poor little girl was just, she was dead.

Some in Nikki's family believe Robert's date with death is long old. overdue. This third execution date, it's time. It's no more waiting. But a growing army is rallying behind Robert. They believe he is innocent. I almost cannot believe what I'm reading. They argue his case urgently needs another look.

Now, before it's too late. Let's take all this evidence, go back to the courtroom, go back to a jury, and let them decide. As the days tick down to Robert's execution, I set off to East Texas. I've never seen a picture of her like this. Beautiful little girl. I'm on the hunt for answers about what happened to Nikki all those years ago, learning critical information the jury never got to hear. We're just fact-checking on a document that was discovered here.

Finding details that have never been reported. Have you done interviews on this topic before? No, this was the very first. Is the state about to put an innocent man to death? I am terrified that that is what... We are racing towards. It's September 2025, one month before Robert Robertson is scheduled to be executed.

I'm in Palestine, Texas, once a busy railroad hub. Today, downtown looks more like an empty movie set. It's the town where two-year-old Nikki was taken to the hospital. On the morning of January 31st, 2002, a man walked in pushing a woman in a wheelchair. Resting on her lap was Nikki. She was unconscious, barely breathing. A nurse named Kelly Garganis was the first to see Nikki that morning. Has she talked before?

I'm with producer Dan Slapion. We wanted to speak with Kelly, so we stopped by her house. Hello? Hello, hi. Are you, Kelly? Hi, I'm Lester Holt from NBC News. Yes, sir. I'm with my colleagues here. I know you're not like me. You look just like Lester.

We're trying to contact you about a story we're working on around the Robert Robertson case. Kelly is wearing pink scrubs. invites us in and agrees to talk to me about that morning 23 years ago. So you've been working all day? Yes, sir. At the same hospital? At the same hospital? Been there 28 years. Back when all this was happening, you were in ER nurse. Yes, sir. Is the pediatric part of that job emotionally hard? Can be, yes. Can be very emotionally. And like Mickey, the little girl, till this day, I'll never forget that day. A gentleman, walks through the door, not the ambulance bay, but the main door.

And there was a lady that was in a wheelchair. And I could tell she was in a hospital gown. And there was something on her lap. And I saw that there was a jacket. So I took the jacket off. And there was a baby in her lap. We went in the trauma room when we started the head-to-toe assessment. And we were like, something else is going on here.

Thank you for listening. Search for the last appeal to hear the full episode now.