Robert Roberson was “shocked” after the Texas Supreme Court halted his execution on Thursday.

Roberson, 57, would become the first person in the United States to be put to death for a murder conviction related to a diagnosis of shaken baby syndrome.

He was sentenced to death for the murder of his two-year-old daughter, Nikki Curtis, after prosecutors argued she died of injuries caused by severe shaking. Roberson has maintained her innocence, and attorneys and some medical experts say she died of complications related to pneumonia, not abuse.

The ruling that spared Roberson’s life came after a final legal challenge and pressure from both Republican and Democratic lawmakers who say Roberson is innocent and that his conviction was based on science that has been discredited.

“He was shocked, to say the least,” Amanda Hernandez, a spokesperson for the Texas Department of Criminal Justice, who spoke with Roberson after the court stayed his execution, told reporters, according to The Associated Press.

“He praised God and thanked his followers. And that’s basically what he had to say.”

In a statement to NewsweekRoberson’s attorney Gretchen Sween said, “The enormous team fighting for Robert Roberson – people all over Texas, the country and the world – is thrilled tonight that a contingent of courageous, bipartisan Texas lawmakers have chosen to dig deep into the facts of Robert’s case to dig. that no court had yet considered and recognized that his life was worth fighting for.

“He lives to fight another day and hopes his experience can help improve the integrity of our criminal justice system. Thank you to all who supported Robert, an innocent man on Texas’ death row.”

In an effort to buy Roberson time, lawmakers ordered him to testify before a House committee next week, arguing that executing him before he could testify would violate constitutional authority of the legislature.

A judge halted the execution, but that ruling was overturned by an appeals panel. The Texas Supreme Court subsequently issued an injunction halting Roberson’s execution. Roberson will testify before the committee on Monday.

“For more than two decades, Robert Roberson has spent 23.5 hours every day in solitary confinement in a cell no larger than the closets of most Texans, longing and striving to be heard,” said Texas State Representative Joe Moody, a Democrat, and Jeff. Leach, a Republican, said in a joint statement.

“And while some courthouses may have failed him, the Texas House has not. We are deeply grateful to the Texas Supreme Court for respecting the role of the Texas Legislature in such follow-on cases. We look forward to welcoming Robert to the Texas Capitol, along with 31 million Texans, finally giving him – and the truth – a chance to be heard.

It came after Gov. Greg Abbott and the U.S. Supreme Court both refused to halt Roberson’s execution.

Abbott had the authority to grant a 30-day reprieve, the only action he could take in the case after the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles denied Roberson’s clemency request.

Roberson’s attorneys argued in the petition that experts have largely debunked that Curtis’ symptoms were related to shaken baby syndrome.

They also said Roberson has autism, which was not diagnosed until 2018, and that his behavior was wrongly used against him when he took his daughter to the hospital.