Robert Roberson's execution was stopped with an injunction. Currently.

Travis County Judge Jessica Mangrum issued a temporary injunction stopping lethal injection at the request of a group of bipartisan lawmakers. An appeal immediately followed.

Robert Roberson's life was spared. Whether it is for a few hours, days or longer is unclear.

About 90 minutes before Roberson's execution, a Texas judge on Thursday issued a temporary injunction halting lethal injection at the request of a group of bipartisan lawmakers. The five Republican and four Democratic lawmakers on the Texas House Criminal Justice Committee pushed hard to stop the execution and issued a subpoena for Roberson late Wednesday, an extraordinary move that triggered the trial.

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 affirm or reject Mangrum's decision, which would allow Roberson's execution to continue.

The Texas Department of Criminal Justice, which carries out executions, told USA TODAY following news of the injunction: “Nothing has changed for us. We’re just waiting.”

Meanwhile, the U.S. Supreme Court declined Thursday to stop the execution, saying Roberson's lawyers had not raised a federal issue that the high court had the authority to resolve. But Judge Sonya Sotomayor wrote that Texas Gov. Greg Abbott should grant Roberson a temporary 30-day stay of execution.

“This could prevent a miscarriage of justice: the execution of a man who has provided credible evidence of actual innocence,” Sotomayor wrote.

Abbott's office has declined USA TODAY's repeated requests for comment.

What was Robert Roberson convicted of?

Roberson was convicted of killing his 2-year-old daughter Nikki in her home in the East Texas city of Palestine in 2002.

Roberson reported hearing Nikki crying and realizing she had fallen out of bed. After calming them down, he said they both went back to sleep. When Roberson later woke up, he found Nikki wasn't breathing and her lips had turned blue. In the emergency room, doctors found symptoms suggestive of brain death and she was pronounced dead the next day.

While doctors and investigators at the time jumped to the conclusion that Nikki died of shaken baby syndrome, the toddler had pneumonia in both lungs, pre-existing conditions for which she was prescribed opioids, now banned for children, and one that wasn't diagnosed sepsis.

Shaken baby syndrome has largely been exposed as junk science, and the lead investigator in Roberson's case told USA TODAY's “The Excerpt” podcast that he botched the investigation.

“Robert is a completely innocent man and we were completely wrong because we were looking for the wrong things,” Brian Wharton said, adding that his confirmation bias and a series of misunderstandings wrongly tipped him off to Roberson's guilt.

“I was wrong. I haven't seen Robert. I didn’t hear Robert,” Wharton said. “I can tell you now, he is a good man. He is a friendly man. He is a gracious man. And he didn’t do what the state of Texas and I accused him of doing.”

Who is fighting to prevent the execution of Robert Roberson?

Perhaps the most notable voices fighting for clemency for Roberson were Republican lawmakers who support the death penalty and work with Democrats on the issue.

Last month, a bipartisan group of 84 Texas lawmakers called on the state's pardon and parole board to recommend a pardon for Roberson “out of grave concern that Texas may execute him for a crime that was not committed.”

“It should shock all Texans that we are moving toward an execution in light of this new evidence,” the members of the Texas Legislature wrote. “Other states view Texas as a leader in both enforcing the rule of law and combating wrongful convictions. We now expect you to prevent our state from tarnishing that reputation by allowing this execution to take place.”

The clemency committee rejected her request.

In addition to the lawmakers fighting for Roberson, 34 scientific and medical experts wrote to the clemency board, saying that if Nikki had died today, “no doctor would consider shaken baby syndrome” as the cause because the condition is “now considered to be Diagnosis of exclusion applies.” “

“Nikki's pneumonia, the extreme levels of dangerous drugs found in her body during her autopsy, and her fall from bed explain why Nikki died,” the experts wrote.

Additionally, parental rights groups, autism advocates, faith leaders and anti-death penalty groups, including the Innocence Project and best-selling author John Grisham, are calling for Roberson's rescue.

“Nikki’s death was a tragedy, not a crime,” Grisham wrote in a column for the Palestine Herald-Press. “Robert Roberson may be out of options unless the Texas authorities recognize the injustice of the conviction and death sentence against Mr. Robertson, make an about-face and grant him a new trial.”

Contribution: Taylor Wilson, Maureen Groppe

What was Robert Roberson convicted of?

Who is fighting to prevent the execution of Robert Roberson?

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