In a historic decision, a judge in Austin granted a stay delaying the execution of Texas death row inmate Robert Roberson to allow him to testify about his case next week. Roberson, who has been on death row for more than 20 years, was convicted in 2003 of killing his two-year-old daughter, Nikki Curtis, a conviction based on a syndrome that has since come under scientific scrutiny.
The order and the subpoena from lawmakers was an extraordinary and last-ditch effort to give Roberson’s case more time, claiming the conviction was based on “junk science.”
Roberson was scheduled to be executed on Oct. 17 at around 6 p.m., but Travis County 200th District Court Judge Jessica Mangrum issued a temporary measure that stayed Roberson’s execution on the grounds of the subpoena for Roberson that was issued by the Texas House Committee on Criminal Jurisprudence late Wednesday night…