CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — Travis County 200th District Court Judge Jessica Mangrum issued a temporary restraining order that would stay the execution of death-row inmate Robert Roberson scheduled for Thursday evening.
The hearing took place about 90 minutes before Roberson was set to be executed.
The 57-year-old autistic man was set to be executed Thursday night after his lawyers' request for clemency unanimously was denied by the Texas Board of Parole on Wednesday.
Roberson was convicted 20 years ago of murdering his 2-year-old daughter Nikki Curtis on what some are now calling 'junk science,' saying that 'shaken baby syndrome' is a flawed cause-of-death ruling.
He will now be asked to testify Oct. 21 before of a Texas House Committee to decide the next steps in his case.
Until Thursday's hearing, clemency from Gov. Greg Abbott was one of the only ways to postpone Roberson's execution. Abbott is scheduled to be Corpus Christi on Thursday night to speak at the South Texas Property Rights Association's annual meeting. A release sent by his office Wednesday said his speech was scheduled to address border security.
Roberson has long proclaimed his innocence. His lawyers as well as a bipartisan group of Texas lawmakers, medical experts and others don't deny that head and other injuries from child abuse are real. But they argue his conviction was based on faulty and now outdated scientific evidence and say new evidence has shown Curtis died from complications related to severe pneumonia.
Prosecutors maintain Roberson’s new evidence does not disprove their case that Curtis died from injuries inflicted by her father.
KHOU contributed to this developing story.