An unusual legal move bought more time for a Texas man scheduled to be executed Thursday evening.

A bipartisan group of Texas lawmakers, saying Robert Roberson was actually innocent and should not be executed, issued a subpoena for the death row inmate.

Roberson was convicted in 2002 of murdering his two-year-old daughter. Prosecutors said she died of shaken baby syndrome, but new evidence showed she died of pneumonia and not abuse. That new evidence was not considered in any of his dismissed appeals.

“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. And while some courthouses may have failed him, the Texas House has not,” Texas Reps. Jeff Leach (R-Plano) and Joe Moody (D-El Paso) said in a joint statement.

Lawmakers said they had subpoenaed Roberson to hear his testimony on the death penalty in Texas. Roberson was scheduled to testify on Monday, October 21, just days after Thursday’s scheduled execution at 6 p.m.

Just 90 minutes before the death sentence was to be carried out, a Travis County judge presided over a court hearing to decide which carries more weight and should be honored: a Texas legislative subpoena or a death sentence for execution.

Judge Jessica Mangrum issued a temporary restraining order to prevent the execution. This began a night of legal uncertainty for Roberson.

The state, which planned to proceed with the execution, succeeded in having Mangrum’s restraining order dismissed by the Texas Criminal Court of Appeals.

The lawmakers then appealed to the Texas Supreme Court, arguing that their attempt to subpoena Roberson was a civil matter. The state’s highest court agreed.

“Whether the Legislature may use its authority to compel the presence of witnesses to block the executive branch’s power to enforce a death sentence is a matter of Texas civil law, not criminal law” , judge Evan Young wrote.

“Should the executive yield when the legislature invokes its authority—that is, would proceeding with an execution under these circumstances entail an executive encroachment on the legislature’s broad authority?” Young continued. “Or, conversely, to allow various committees of the legislature to subpoena a prisoner facing the threat of death would constitute an interference by the legislature in the orderly operation of the law, allowing for manipulation of the judicial process and the executive function is at risk?”

The Supreme Court left it to the Travis County District Court to resolve the separation of powers issue.

It remained unclear when a new execution date would be scheduled. The death sentence against Roberson expired at midnight Friday.

Meanwhile, Roberson, who has been on death row for 22 years, will live another day.

“We are deeply grateful to the Texas Supreme Court for respecting the role of the Texas Legislature in such follow-on cases,” Leach and Moody said. “We look forward to welcoming Robert to the Texas Capitol and, along with 31 million Texans, finally giving him – and the truth – a chance to be heard.”