There were two planned executions in the US on Thursday: one was halted due to questions about the suspect’s guilt and the other went ahead after the death row inmate asked to be killed.

The Texas Supreme Court has halted the planned execution of Robert Roberson, who was convicted in 2002 of murdering his two-year-old daughter.

He would have become the first person in the US to be put to death for a murder conviction related to a diagnosis of shaken baby syndrome.

Meanwhile, Derrick Dearman, 36, was declared dead at 6:14 pm local time in Alabama after withdrawing his appeal earlier this year and asking a judge to carry out his death sentence.

Dearman broke into a house where his estranged girlfriend had taken refuge during a drug-fueled disaster in 2016 and killed five people.

At least 20 people have been put to death in the US this year, according to the Death Penalty Information Center.

But the figures have shown a downward trend in recent decades.

“He was shocked to say the least.”

A flurry of final legal challenges and weeks of public pressure led to an overnight stay of execution for Roberson.

His supporters claim he was sent to death row based on flawed science.

In the hours leading up to the sentencing, Roberson sat in a jail cell just feet from his country’s busiest death chamber, the Walls Unit, in Huntsville, as he waited to be certain of his fate.

“He was shocked, to say the least,” said Amanda Hernandez, spokesperson for the Texas Department of Criminal Justice, who spoke with Roberson after the court stayed his execution.

“He praised God and thanked his supporters.”

The 57-year-old was convicted of murdering his daughter Nikki Curtis, but his lawyers and some medical experts have said she died of complications related to pneumonia.

A bipartisan coalition of state politicians used unusual methods to save Roberson’s life, subpoenaing him to testify before a committee next week — a plan, some admitted, that had never been tried before.

Less than two hours before Roberson’s execution, a judge sided with the politicians before an appeals panel reversed the decision.

But then the all-Republican court ended a night of uncertainty with its ruling.

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‘I am guilty’

While one man avoided the death penalty, another voluntarily underwent lethal injection.

Strapped to a gurney in the execution chamber in Alabama, Dearman told the families of his victims: “Forgive me. This isn’t for me. This is for you. I brought so much with me.’

He also told his own family that he loved them.

The lethal injection was carried out after Dearman withdrew his appeal this year and asked for the execution to go ahead.

“I am guilty. It is not fair to the victims or their families to continue to prolong the justice they so rightly deserve,” he wrote in a letter to the judge in April.

On August 20, 2016, at a home near Citronelle, Alabama, Shannon Randall, 35, Joseph Turner, 26, Robert Lee Brown, 26, Justin Reed, 23, and Chelsea Reed, 22, were all murdered.

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All of the victims were related or married and Chelsea Reed, who was married to Justin Reed, was pregnant.

In a statement, Chelsea Reed’s father, Bryant Randall, said: “I am longing for a final farewell to my daughter and would have loved to meet my grandchild.

“I was robbed of happiness and the bond of my family in many ways by your (Dearman’s) senseless act.”

Robert Lee Brown’s father said his family will “suffer for the rest of their lives.”

“This doesn’t bring anything back. I can’t get my son or anyone back,” he added.