Execution of Texas inmate scheduled for today now in question after he’s called to testify before state committee

Barring intervention by the courts or the governor, Texas on Thursday is scheduled to execute death row inmate Robert Roberson, who claims he was wrongfully convicted of abusing his 2-year-old daughter until she died.

Barring intervention by the courts or the governor, Texas on Thursday is scheduled to execute death row inmate Robert Roberson, who claims he was wrongfully convicted of abusing his 2-year-old daughter until she died. But the status of the execution process is now unclear after an extraordinary decision by a Texas House committee Wednesday night to subpoena Roberson to testify as it reconsiders the lawfulness of his conviction. “This extraordinary and unprecedented maneuver reflects how seriously Texas legislators have evaluated the concerns in Mr. Roberson’s case,” Robin Maher, executive director of the Death Penalty Information Center, told CNN of the decision. “They are also sending an urgent, public message to Governor (Greg) Abbott that they, like so many others, do not believe Mr. Roberson should be executed.” The Texas Department of Criminal Justice has not announced whether Roberson’s execution will be delayed due to the subpoena from the Texas Committee on Criminal Jurisprudence, which calls for Roberson to testify October 21. The department said Wednesday night that it was discussing “appropriate next steps” with the state attorney general’s office. Members of the state House committee went before a Travis County judge shortly before 5 p.m. ET on Thursday to request a temporary restraining order against the Texas Department of Criminal Justice in another last-minute attempt to halt the execution, according to a staff member on the committee. Former Texas Supreme Court Justice Dale Wainwright will help represent the committee before the judge.