The Last Appeal
6
Episodes
4.5 / 5
Rating

The Last Appeal

by NBC News

Category
True Crime
Frequency
Daily Series
Language
English
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...

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Recent Reviews

Gas lighting

long ducka donger•4/27/2026

They leave out some major facts and or breeze over them. They focus on Shaken Baby, even though the injury was clearly blunt force. Also watch the in depth interview done by another news agency that shows the real suspect before being coached how present.

Sad about lack of all facts

USA Mknitter•1/2/2026

I just binged the episodes that are available to date — am keeping it in my podcast library waiting for any updates. Was sad to hear that soooooo many facts were never discovered in the beginning—or at least in 2016. Facts such as XRays and scans, judge’s name (very BIG conflict of interest) and lack of evidence given in the original trial. I was happy to hear the original detective changed his attitude/perspective on Roberson and was a big supporter; thanks to Gretchen (and the inclusion of John Grisham). Great job to Lester and Dan!

Updates?

J0N$T3R•12/8/2025

Lester, I love this story! Please let us know if anything has changed with court decisions!

More Lester Please!

a_lvl5•10/22/2025

Loved this entire series. It was beautifully written and I enjoyed Lester’s conversations with all interviewee’s.

Missing information

DeeGram•10/16/2025

If blunt force trauma is what the prosecutors are stating, why doesnt dateline tell us how many times that was mentioned in the trial. You guys say SBS was mentioned 80 times, well how many times was it said that blunt force was the issue? Sounds like you are only playing one side. Not saying this guy is guilty but leaving that information out hurts the overall podcast. Just sounds like you are anti-death penalty without providing everything.