(AP) – The Texas Supreme Court ruled Friday that a legislative subpoena cannot be used to stop an execution after Republican and Democratic lawmakers used the new maneuver to interrupt Robert Roberson’s lethal injection at the last minute.

The ruling addressed a subpoena issued for Roberson by the Texas House Committee on Criminal Jurisprudence last month, which was seen as a way to delay his execution.

But the high court ruled that “under these circumstances, the committee’s authority to compel testimony does not include the power to override the scheduled legal process leading to an execution,” Republican Justice Evan Young wrote in issuing the court’s opinion.

Roberson was scheduled to die by lethal injection on Oct. 17 when lawmakers, in a last-ditch effort, subpoenaed him to testify at the Texas Capitol, days after his scheduled execution.

A new execution date for Roberson has not been set, but he is certain to go forward unless Gov. Greg Abbott grants a 30-day reprieve.

This set off a legal tussle between the state’s criminal and civil courts, which ultimately led to a temporary decision by the Texas Supreme Court in Roberson’s favor.

Roberson, who was sentenced to death in 2003 for the murder of his 2-year-old daughter, Nikki Curtis. He won bipartisan support from lawmakers and medical experts who say he was convicted on flawed evidence of “shaken baby syndrome,” which refers to a serious brain injury caused when a child’s head is injured by shaking or other violent impact , such as being hit. on a wall or thrown on the floor.

Roberson would be the first person in the United States to be executed for killing a child in this manner.

Rep. Joe Moody, who led the effort to stop Roberson’s execution, said delaying the execution with the subpoena was “never our specific intent” and added that the court “rightly agreed” that the subpoena and lawsuit were valid .

Moody insisted that Roberson could be called to testify because the court’s ruling “reinforced our belief that the Committee can indeed obtain Mr. Roberson’s testimony and made it clear that the executive branch of government expects us to accept that.” .

Prosecutors said Roberson killed his daughter by violently shaking her back and forth. Roberson’s attorneys argued that the child’s symptoms did not line up with child abuse and that she likely died of complications from severe pneumonia.

His case has drawn the support of nearly 90 lawmakers across party lines and civil rights advocates, who say Roberson is innocent and was not given a fair trial under the state’s “junk science law.” The statute allows people convicted of a crime under outdated science to have their sentence vacated. The 2013 law was hailed as progressive and the first of its kind, but civil rights advocates say the state’s highest criminal court is not using the law as it should for people facing execution.

The Supreme Court, which handles civil matters, said it would not rule on the merits of whether Roberson was guilty or not guilty of capital murder or based on the evidence in the case. Those questions belong to the criminal courts, which have so far rejected Robinson’s appeals, the Supreme Court said.

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