Texas judge issues temporary restraining order before executing man in shaken baby syndrome case

A Texas judge issued a temporary restraining order postponing the execution of a death row inmate 2002 killing his 2 year old daughter.

Robert Roberson, 57, was scheduled to be executed Thursday night, but just hours before he was to receive a lethal injection, Travis County Judge Jessica Mangrum ruled that he would be allowed to testify in his case next week.

Mangrum agreed and issued an injunction preventing the execution just 90 minutes before Roberson's scheduled execution.

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Texas lawmakers meet with Robert Roberson at a prison in Livingston, Texas, on September 27, 2024. (Criminal Justice Reform Caucus via AP)

The decision came after a bipartisan group of Texas lawmakers issued a subpoena for Roberson on Wednesday evening.

“We push Gov. Greg Abbott to grant a 30-day reprieve so that litigation can proceed and a court can hear the overwhelming new medical and scientific evidence showing that Robert Roberson's chronically ill two-year-old daughter, Nikki, died of natural and accidental causes and not abuse,” said Gretchen Sween, one of Roberson's attorneys, in a statement to Fox News Digital.

“A reprieve will also give Texas lawmakers time to examine why the state of Texas’ vaunted habeas law, which allows prisoners to challenge convictions based on scientific evidence that turns out to be disproven or false, is not holding up in court is intended to be used.”

Texas lawmakers meet with Robert Roberson at a prison in Livingston, Texas, on September 27. (AP Photo/Criminal Justice Reform Caucus)

Roberson was found guilty of killing his 2-year-old daughter, Nikki Curtis, in the East Texas city of Palestine.

The toddler was diagnosed with “shaken baby syndrome,” a condition that is no longer scientifically defensible.

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But in 2022, doctors were taught that the presence of three symptoms known as “the triad” – which included subdural hemorrhages, brain swelling and retinal hemorrhages – were evidence of shaken baby syndrome.

Robert Roberson and his daughter Nikki. (Roberson family)

Because there were no witnesses, the diagnosis was accepted as evidence that a child had been violently abused.

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Roberson's supporters say doctors misdiagnosed Curtis' injuries as being related to shaken baby syndrome and that new evidence has shown the girl died not from abuse but from complications related to severe pneumonia.

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Following Mangrum's decision, the U.S. Supreme Court denied Roberson's request for a stay of execution.

Justice Sonia Sotomayor respected Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr.'s denial and issued a lengthy statement saying the Supreme Court had no reason to intervene.

“An executive stay of thirty days would give the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles an opportunity to reconsider the evidence of Roberson’s actual innocence,” Justices Alito and Sotomayor wrote. “This could prevent a miscarriage of justice from occurring: the execution of a man who has provided credible evidence of actual innocence.”

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Roberson is scheduled to testify at noon Monday.

Fox News Digital's Bradford Betz contributed to this report.