The length of stay was not specified, but Superior Court Judge Evan Young wrote in his opinion that the lower court should act quickly. “The district court should proceed with the utmost expeditiousness to the underlying merits, subject to this court’s review,” he wrote.

Amanda Hernandez, director of communications at the Texas Department of Criminal Justice, told reporters that Roberson was “shocked, to say the least. He praised God and thanked his followers.”

Hernandez said Roberson was returned to his unit and she had no timeline for what would happen next. ‘He has been given an extension for tonight. We will have to see what happens next,” she said.

Legal efforts

The Supreme Court’s order comes after a day of legal efforts to delay the execution.

With just hours left, Travis County Judge Jessica Mangrum issued a temporary injunction in favor of state lawmakers who late Wednesday took the unusual step of issuing Roberson a subpoena to testify at a hearing next week on his case — a step which was intended for Thursday’s execution.

However, the attorney general’s office quickly appealed the order to the state’s highest criminal court and won. That then prompted lawmakers to petition the Texas Supreme Court to halt the execution.

Gov. Greg Abbott could have granted a request from Roberson’s legal team for a 30-day extension, but he did not.

Earlier Thursday, the U.S. Supreme Court rejected a bid to delay Roberson’s execution.

Judge Sonia Sotomayor wrote in a statement that she respected the denial because the appeal had no basis in a federal claim, essentially leaving it up to the governor to decide. But in a show of support, she wrote, “Few cases more urgently require such a resolution than one in which the suspect has seriously demonstrated actual innocence, as Roberson has done here.”

On Wednesday, the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles unanimously declined to recommend clemency for Abbott, who has the power to commute death sentences. The board did not immediately explain why it made that decision, and Abbott has not publicly shared what, if anything, he might do.

A petition with more than 116,000 signatures was delivered to his office this week asking Abbott to halt the execution.

Roberson’s attorney, Gretchen Sween, said the case has received significant support, including from dozens of leading scientists and physicians, a bipartisan group of Texas lawmakers, parental rights advocates and organizations that support people with autism.

The Texas House committee that issued the subpoena held a hearing Wednesday that included testimony from medical experts and a retired lead detective in the case who has since become an advocate for his release.

“This is an innocent man, there’s no doubt about it,” Brian Wharton, the former detective, told state lawmakers.

In an interview from prison with NBC News host Lester Holt this month, Roberson urged Abbott to pardon him because “I’m innocent.”

“Look at the support that I have, Mr. Governor, and I hope and pray that you do the right thing,” he said.

Nikki’s death

Roberson said he woke up early Jan. 31, 2002, to a “strange scream” in his East Texas home and discovered Nikki had fallen out of bed. He comforted her and the family went back to sleep, court records show.

But hours later, Roberson said, he woke up and realized Nikki wasn’t breathing and her lips looked blue. He took her to the emergency room, where doctors concluded she showed signs of brain death. She was pronounced dead the next day.

Roberson showed little emotion at the hospital, adding to law enforcement’s suspicions. Within a day, Wharton, a Palestinian police detective, arrested Roberson on murder charges.

Wharton testified against Roberson at his trial. Prosecutors emphasized that they believed Roberson intentionally shook Nikki, causing bruising and blunt force trauma, and that he appeared almost emotionless as he took her to the hospital.

Roberson has attributed his “seemingly blank response” to autism spectrum disorder, which he was diagnosed with in 2018. In addition, his lawyers were not allowed to have a medical expert testify at his trial about his claims of “mental errors” caused by a brain injury.

The jury also never heard how ill Nikki was from the day she was born, nor that she had been to hospital more than 40 times in her short life. Two days before she died, she registered a fever of 104.5 degrees at the doctor’s office. She was sent home with a drug that has since been deemed too dangerous for children — a drug that now carries a “black box warning” from the Food and Drug Administration.

‘Shaken baby syndrome’

Roberson has steadfastly claimed his innocence in his daughter’s death after doctors, and law enforcement quickly determined that she had been killed as a result of a violent tremor.

Prosecutors argued that Nikki must have been shaken to death because she had been diagnosed with “the triad” — a swollen and bleeding brain and retinal hemorrhages — symptoms once believed to be indisputable evidence of shaken baby syndrome.

However, since Roberson’s conviction in 2003, the science behind the triad being the only diagnosis of abuse has come under intense scrutiny.

In 2009, the American Academy of Pediatrics changed the name of shaken baby syndrome to the more broadly defined “abusive head trauma” to include injuries caused by mechanisms other than shaking alone.

It is now medical consensus that other medical conditions, including infections, accidental trauma, and pre-existing diseases, can also cause the symptoms associated with shaken baby syndrome.

Hundreds of possible cases of baby shakes and head trauma are reported to U.S. hospitals every year, according to a nonprofit advocacy group.

While there have been criminal cases involving such injuries that have resulted in convictions, examination of the medical testimony has also led to reversals.

Since 1992, at least 34 defendants have later been acquitted on charges of shaken baby syndrome or head trauma, according to the National Registry of Exonerations, which tracks sentences for wrongful convictions.

‘Junk science’ law

Texas nearly executed Roberson in 2016, but halted it days earlier so another hearing could be held. Ultimately, his bid for a new trial was denied last year.

Anderson County prosecutors continue to insist in court filings that Nikki was murdered and that Roberson is to blame, arguing that his defense has raised “the same tired issues that this court and others have already raised in the last habeas procedure, including junk science, disease process and actual innocence. They were all rejected.”

In 2013, Texas passed a “junk science” law that allows prisoners to challenge convictions based on advances in forensic science or other changes not available at the time.

That law — and whether it is properly enforced — will be part of Monday’s hearing in the House of Representatives, where Roberson is expected to testify, said Texas state Reps. Lacey Hull, a Republican, and John Bucy, a Democrat, after Thursday’s execution was postponed. .

“It’s bigger than him,” Bucy said. He and Hull said they believe Roberson is innocent.

Bucy did not know whether Roberson will appear before lawmakers in person or remotely. He said there are still options in the case.

“There are still many people who can take action in this case, from the governor to the courts and the parole board,” he said.