Robert Roberson‘s life has been spared. Whether it’s for a couple hours, days or longer is unclear.
With about 90 minutes before Roberson’s execution, a Texas judge on Thursday granted a temporary restraining order halting the lethal injection at the request of a group of bipartisan lawmakers. The five Republican and four Democratic lawmakers on the Texas House Committee on Criminal Jurisprudence worked furiously to stop the execution and issued a subpoena for Roberson late Wednesday in an extraordinary move that prompted the court hearing.
Travis County Judge Jessica Mangrum agreed to issue the temporary restraining order but the state Attorney General’s Office immediately appealed. A higher court could uphold Mangrum’s decision or deny it, which would allow Roberson’s execution to proceed.
The Texas Department of Criminal Justice, which carries out executions, told USA TODAY after news of the restraining order that: “Nothing has changed on our end. Just waiting.”
Meanwhile the U.S. Supreme Court declined to stop the execution Thursday, saying that Roberson’s attorneys hadn’t raised a federal issue the high court had the power to address. But Justice Sonya Sotomayor wrote that Texas Gov. Greg Abbott should grant Roberson a temporary 30-day execution reprieve.
“That could prevent a miscarriage of justice from occurring: executing a man who has raised credible evidence of actual innocence,” Sotomayor wrote.