The Texas Supreme Court late Thursday halted the execution of a man who was set to be the nation’s first person to be executed for a “shaken baby” death after a day of legal maneuvers.
Robert Roberson, 57, has maintained his innocence after his 2-year-old daughter, Nikki, died in 2002. He had been scheduled to die by lethal injection at 6 p.m. local time at the Texas State Penitentiary at Huntsville. The state’s death warrant expired at midnight.
Shortly before 10 p.m. local time, the Supreme Court issued a stay, or temporary halt, after a bipartisan coalition of state lawmakers issued a subpoena for Roberson to testify at a hearing next week about his case — which he cannot do if he is dead, the high court noted.
A lower court issued a temporary restraining order halting the execution, an appeals court overturned that order, and lawmakers then appealed to the state Supreme Court, which issued the stay.
The length of the stay was not specified, but Supreme Court Justice Evan Young wrote in the opinion that the lower court should act swiftly. “The district court should proceed to the underlying merits with maximum expedition, subject to this Court’s review,” he wrote.
Amanda Hernandez, director of communications with the Texas Department of Criminal Justice, told reporters that Roberson “was shocked, to say the least. He praised God and thanked his supporters.”
Hernandez said that Roberson was returned to his unit and that she did not have a timeline for what happens next. “He did receive a stay for tonight. What happens after that, we’ll have to see,” she said.
Legal efforts
The high court order comes after a day of legal attempts to stay the execution.
With only hours to spare, Judge Jessica Mangrum in Travis County granted a temporary injunction in favor of state lawmakers who took the unusual step late Wednesday of issuing a subpoena for Roberson to testify at a hearing next week about his case — a move meant to obstruct Thursday’s execution.
The attorney general's office, however, quickly appealed the order to the state's highest criminal court and won. That then prompted the lawmakers to petition the Texas Supreme Court to stop the execution.
Gov. Greg Abbott could have granted a request by Roberson's legal team for a 30-day reprieve, but he has not done so.
Earlier Thursday, the U.S. Supreme Court denied a bid to stay Roberson's execution.
Justice Sonia Sotomayor wrote in a statement that she respected the denial because the appeal had no basis in a federal claim, essentially leaving it to the governor to decide. But in a show of support, she wrote, “Few cases more urgently call for such a remedy than one where the accused has made a serious showing of actual innocence, as Roberson has here.”
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