A Travis County judge granted a group of Texas lawmakers their petition to prevent the execution of Robert Roberson, just 90 minutes before he was set to receive the lethal injection.
The Texas House Criminal Jurisprudence Committee on Wednesday held a meeting on Roberson’s case. After the hearing, legislators voted unanimously to subpoena Roberson. On Thursday afternoon Judge Jessica Mangrum agreed and granted a temporary restraining order to prevent the execution, according to Kera News.
Roberson is set to testify on Monday, Oct 21 at 12:00 p.m.
Roberson, 57, was convicted of capital murder in 2003 for killing his 2-year-old daughter, Nikki Curtis, in the city of Palestine. Roberson has claimed his innocence, and a group of lawmakers, the detective on the case and Texas GOP megadonor Doug Deason have called for his pardon. The group, alongside medical experts and lawyers, have argued Roberson’s conviction was based on faulty and outdated science. In addition, they argued that they found that her daughter died because of serious complications of pneumonia.
“Based on the totality of the evidence, a murder took place here. Mr. Roberson took the life of his almost 3-year-old daughter,” Anderson County District Attorney Allyson Mitchell, whose office prosecuted Roberson, said.
A bipartisan group of Texas House members had asked Gov. Greg Abbott to pardon Roberson, however, now that the Board of Pardons and Paroles denied clemency to the convicted, Abbott cannot issue a pardon. But the governor can still delay Roberson’s execution for 30 days.
U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor said Abbott granting the reprieve could give the Board of Pardons a chance to reconsider the evidence.
“Under these circumstances, a stay permitting examination of Roberson’s credible claims of actual innocence is imperative; yet this Court is unable to grant it”, she wrote in a statement obtained by Nolan D. McCaskill from the Dallas Morning News. “That means only one avenue for relief remains open: an executive reprieve.”
“That could prevent a miscarriage of justice from occurring: executing a man who has raised credible evidence of actual innocence, he added.”
With the subpoena, lawmakers hope to delay the execution or force action into the case. According to the Associated Press, the Texas Department of Criminal Justice said it’s aware of the subpoena and is working with the Attorney General’s Office on next steps.
In addition, lawmakers argued that a 2013 law, commonly known as “junk science law,” that allowed people in prison to challenge their convictions based on new scientific evidence was ignored in Roberson’s case.
“The law that the legislature passed and our governor signed into law is being ignored by our courts, and all we’re seeking to do here is to push the pause button to make sure it’s enforced,” Rep. Jeff Leach, R-Plano, said.
If Roberson is executed, he would become the first person in the U.S. to be executed for a conviction linked to a diagnosis of shaken baby syndrome. The syndrome relates to brain injuries produced by violent shaking or blunt force trauma. The diagnosis is still polemic, with some institutions saying the diagnosis is valid, but there are growing scientific challenges to the diagnosis.