Texas Supreme Court stops halts on future execution in Roberson case

AUSTIN – Our news partner, KETK, reports that the Texas Supreme Court denied a petition from the Texas House of Representatives on Friday and ruled that a committee subpoena can’t block a scheduled execution like Robert Roberson’s was on Oct. 17.
The Texas House of Representatives Committee on Criminal Jurisprudence had asked the court for a writ of mandamus that would stop the Texas Department of Criminal Justice from executing East Texan Robert Roberson before he could testify in person or before the start of the 89th Texas Legislature on Jan. 14, 2025.

The court has denied that request and an opinion written for the court by Texas Supreme Court Justice Evan A. Young said the following:

“We conclude 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. We do not repudiate legislative investigatory power, but any testimony relevant to a legislative task here could have been obtained long before the death warrant was issued—or even afterwards, but before the execution.”

The court initially upheld an order blocking Roberson’s execution for his death sentence in the case of the death of his two-year-old daughter Nikki Curtis but now they’ve cleared a path for a new death warrant to be issued and a new execution to be scheduled.

However, they added that there’s still plenty time for the TDCJ to bring Roberson to testify before the committee.

Any future death warrant would have to be requested by the Anderson County District Attorney’s Office at least 90 days after Roberson’s previous execution date.