The Texas Supreme Court orders a last-minute stay of execution for Robert Roberson

HUNTSVILLE – The Texas Supreme Court stopped the planned execution of Robert Roberson Late Thursday evening, a few hours before he was set to become the first person in the United States to be executed for murder related to shaken baby syndrome.

Roberson's Lawyers and state lawmakers filed a last-minute civil appeal with the Texas Supreme Court late Thursday night seeking a stay of execution, which was granted.

“Tonight, the vast team fighting for Robert Roberson – people across Texas, across the country and around the world – is thrilled that a group of courageous, bipartisan Texas lawmakers have decided to do a deep dive into the facts of Robert Roberson “I thought and realized that his life was worth fighting for,” said Gretchen Sween, one of Roberson's lawyers. “He lives to fight another day and hopes his experience can help improve the integrity of our criminal justice system.”

Roberson issued a statement praising God and thanking his supporters after his overnight execution by the Texas Supreme Court.

That ruling came after a volatile legal battle in which the Texas Court of Appeals early Thursday evening rejected a request to stay the execution, overturning a temporary order from Travis County Judge Jessica Mangrum. This ruling by the state appeals court was in response to an appeal by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton of Mangrum's ruling.

In an effort to delay the execution, Roberson was subpoenaed Wednesday night by a bipartisan group of Texas lawmakers on the House Criminal Justice Committee after the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles previously rejected Roberson's clemency request.

“The underlying criminal matter is within the jurisdiction of the Court of Criminal Appeals, but the relief sought here is civil in nature, as are the claims presented in the district court,” Texas Supreme Court Justice Evan Young wrote in his brief Opinion. “Whether the legislature may use its authority to compel the presence of witnesses to block the executive branch’s authority to carry out a death sentence is a question of Texas civil law, not its criminal law.”

The warrant expires at midnight. A state prison spokesman previously said staff and guards were on site and ready when Roberson's appeal options were exhausted.

The US Supreme Court also rejected a request to stay the execution on Thursday evening. Justice Sonia Sotomayor wrote in her ruling that “the Supreme Court is unable to act without a final federal claim, and because the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles has rejected a recommendation of clemency, only one remedy remains: granting it.” an executive stay delaying Roberson's execution for thirty days.

Such a reprieve would have to come from Gov. Greg Abbott.

“A thirty-day executive pardon would give the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles an opportunity to reexamine the evidence of Roberson’s actual innocence,” Sotomayor wrote. “This could prevent a miscarriage of justice from occurring: the execution of a man who has provided credible evidence of actual innocence.”

Mangrum's injunction went to Texas Lawmakers issued a subpoena against Roberson, 57 There was a last-minute legal attempt to stop his execution on Wednesday evening, which would be the first in the country associated with one Shaken baby syndrome Diagnosis. Roberson was scheduled to receive a lethal injection at 6 p.m. Central Time on Thursday for the 2002 death of his 2-year-old daughter, Nikki Curtis, in the East Texas city of Palestine.

“This is an extraordinary remedy,” Republican state Rep. Jeff Leach of Plano said during arguments Thursday. “But it’s not inappropriate.”

Republicans and Democrats on the House Criminal Justice Committee believe Roberson deserves a new trial based on the medical theory that the death of his chronically ill daughter was caused by violent shaking known as shaken baby syndrome, widely believed by many experts Science was dismissed as nonsense.

Leach said more than 80 lawmakers had signed a letter “calling for Roberson's execution to be paused” because they believed his testimony was vital.

“We were joined by people from the far left in the Texas House of Representatives to people on the far right — people we've had a hard time working with on other issues,” said Rep. John Bucy (D-Williamson County) in Huntsville Thursday. “We came together because the people in the House of Representatives who have looked closely at this and reviewed the evidence know that Robert Roberson is an innocent man and this execution should not move forward.”

The summons came after that The Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles rejected a clemency request Wednesday for Roberson.

Over the past two days, Roberson's attorney at the Innocence Project expressed confidence that his life would be spared.

“We asked the Supreme Court to stop Texas from making a devastating, irreparable mistake by failing to provide Robert Roberson with due process,” Roberson’s attorney Gretchen Sween said in response to the SCOTUS decision. “Yesterday, the Texas House of Representatives heard a full day of testimony documenting the failure of this process. No one who heard this testimony could be left in any doubt that Robert is completely innocent and never received a fair trial.”

   
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