Lester Holt Finds New 'Appeal' in 'Dateline' Podcast, Tackling MuchScrutinized Texas Death Sentence Case Brian SteinbergSeptember 29, 2025 at 9:00 PM 0 NBC Nightly News Lester Holt is counting on some of the skills he developed during one of the earliest points of his career to keep it going into th...
- - Lester Holt Finds New 'Appeal' in 'Dateline' Podcast, Tackling Much-Scrutinized Texas Death Sentence Case
Brian SteinbergSeptember 29, 2025 at 9:00 PM
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NBC Nightly News
Lester Holt is counting on some of the skills he developed during one of the earliest points of his career to keep it going into the future.
The NBC News veteran, who got his start in radio and was once known as "the fastest mic in the West" when he worked for San Francisco station KCBS. Now he's dipping back into audio, with his first original podcast series. In "The Last Appeal," issued as the latest podcast from NBC News' "Dateline," Holt will examine the case of Robert Roberson, a Texas man who is scheduled to be put to death on October 16 for shaking his two-year-old daughter so hard that she died from a brain injury.
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"A shaken baby might seem to be a tell-tale sign, but not necessarily," says Holt during a recent interview, noting that so-called "shaken baby syndrome" is a theory "that has been widely discredited" in recent years. Over the course of "The Last Appeal" — four episodes slated to air Monday. October 6 through Thursday, October 9 — Holt examines the case and even tracks down the lead detective on it who believes he made a mistake.
For Holt, the project is a reminder of the value of sound and conversation in journalism after years spent as one of the most recognizable faces in a heavily visual medium. "I'm using different muscles and learning a lot. I'm still a TV guy, but like a lot of TV guys, I can see the future" of podcasts and audio work.
Holt traveled to Palestine, Texas, to talk to principals and experts in the case, and sometimes found himself deflecting the celebrity he's garnered over the years in favor of getting down to real talk. "I knocked on some people's doors" with others in tow, he explains, and one woman, after seeing who was visiting, called out to her family, "Lester Holt is on our porch!" Still, says Holt, "she ended up being a key interview."
Indeed, the absence of cameras may have helped. Interviewees may feel less intimidated, he says, and perceive less of a need to play or perform. That leads to deeper conversation that podcast listeners may value. "A lot of it is sound," he says, noting that listener will hear his car door slam and his car start as he gears up to meet people for interviews. "This is audio, but it is a very effective way of storytelling," and the narrative "is a great way to take people into the heart of a story."
Holt hasn't made any break with the visual parts of news. After stepping away from the anchor job at "NBC Nightly News" earlier this year, he is still hosting "Dateline," and doing some stories for that long-running franchise as well.
Holt's probe into the Roberson case actually marks his latest dive into criminal justice — a topic he has examined at several points in his career. Longtime viewers may recall him spending three days and two nights locked inside Louisiana State Penitentiary in 2019 for a "Dateline" special that gave viewers a rare look at the prison's high-risk offender unit. He also moderated a town hall on criminal justice at New York's Sing Sing Correctional Facility. Dan Slepian, a veteran "Dateline" producer who has worked with Holt on some of his past reporting, is involved with the current podcast.
Examining issues tied to mass incarceration, says Holt, often turns up compelling stories. People who watch the reports are spurred to ask, "does this make us all safer, which is really what we want," he says. What's more, many of the subjects at the center of such stories don't always get a voice in discussing them, and he appreciates the chance to showcase people who aren't always allowed to contribute to debates about larger issues.
The anchor "took the summer off" after leaving "Nightly" — something he hasn't been able to do in years — and learned to decompress a bit. "I've learned to get past those breaking news moments," he says, when he needed to figure out if he had to get on a plane to cover a national story of import. Someone else is on watch, says Holt.
Now he's thinking about other projects he can tackle — for traditional "Dateline" reports and other NBC News venues. "I am wide open to ideas," he says, "and have had some preliminary spitball conversations."
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