A Texas state judge made a last-minute decision to stay the execution of Robert Roberson, a man convicted in a controversial shaken baby syndrome case.

Roberson is believed to be the first person ever sentenced to death in the United States for an alleged killing related to the syndrome.

But on Thursday, with just hours left until the sentence was carried out, Travis County Civil District Court Judge Jessica Mangrum issued a temporary injunction stopping the execution.

Roberson was convicted of murder in 2003 because his 2-year-old daughter, Nikki Curtis, died a year earlier.

But he firmly maintains his innocence. Experts have also cast doubt on the evidence used to convict him, and the last-minute order has provided relief to those who believed the execution would represent a miscarriage of justice.

“He’s an innocent man and we’re on the verge of killing him for something he didn’t do,” said Brian Wharton, the lead investigator who investigated Curtis’ death. Since then, he has been a vocal supporter of commuting Roberson’s sentence.

At the heart of the case was the prosecution’s allegation that the infant Curtis died of shaken baby syndrome, a term that describes head trauma resulting from abuse of children under five.

But critics have dismissed shaken baby syndrome as an unproven diagnosis based on outdated science and studies of questionable accuracy.

In January 2002, Roberson took his daughter to an emergency room, where scans showed internal brain trauma. Curtis had had a fever in the previous days and Roberson said she fell out of her bed.

Some medical experts believe she likely died as a result of pneumonia and not, as prosecutors have alleged, as a result of Roberson’s abuse.

His case has drawn national attention to Texas, where a group of conservative lawmakers, criminal justice reform advocates and medical officials have expressed doubts about Roberson’s guilt.

Roberson’s lawyers also argued that authorities misinterpreted their client’s symptoms of autism as a lack of emotion after Curtis’ death.

Prosecutors had highlighted Roberson’s seemingly stoic nature as evidence of his guilt. But since his conviction, Roberson has been diagnosed with autism, which can affect the way people express themselves.

“Texas plans to execute Robert Roberson next Thursday despite a conviction based on scientific nonsense. Even former investigators in his case believe Roberson is innocent,” the state branch of the American Civil Liberties Union said in a social media post last week.

Tell Governor Abbott to stop the execution of Robert Roberson tonight.

Roberson was convicted of junk science. The lead investigator now says he should be free. Leading Republican lawmakers want the execution stopped.

The governor can stop this. Inform Abbott: https://t.co/TSP8F7YxRy

– ACLU of Texas (@ACLUTx) October 17, 2024

But Thursday’s execution was halted after a committee in the Republican-controlled state House of Representatives sought an injunction to buy more time.

Several members of the Texas House of Representatives – both Republicans and Democrats – had advocated for the case to be reconsidered.

The Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles nevertheless rejected Roberson’s clemency request on Wednesday, and the U.S. Supreme Court rejected a request to stay the execution on Thursday.

Robertson was scheduled to die by lethal injection Thursday at a state prison in Huntsville, Texas.

The use of lethal injection as a form of execution remains controversial in the United States and has resulted in numerous “botched” efforts that critics say have caused unnecessary suffering to those convicted.

A 2023 Gallup poll found that people in the United States continue to support the death penalty for those convicted of murder by a margin of 53 to 44 percent. However, 50 percent of respondents said the death penalty was imposed unfairly, while 47 percent said it was imposed fairly.