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The Texas Supreme Court on Friday cleared the way for the southern US state to set a new execution date for an autistic man convicted in a troubled “shaken baby” case.

Robert Roberson, 58, was scheduled to die by lethal injection on October 17, but his execution was postponed after he was subpoenaed to testify before a Texas House committee.

The Texas Supreme Court temporarily stayed Roberson’s execution in response to an extraordinary bipartisan subpoena from lawmakers examining his controversial conviction and the use of “junk science” in criminal prosecutions.

The Texas attorney general appealed the decision, and the Texas Supreme Court ruled Friday that the planned execution could not be stopped by a subpoena from lawmakers.

Texas Supreme Court Justice Evan Young said the case raises “a new separation of powers issue,” but “the committee’s authority to compel testimony does not include the authority to override intended due process that would result in execution.”

“Categorically prioritizing a legislative subpoena over a scheduled execution would become a powerful legal tool that could be used not only to obtain necessary testimony but also to prevent execution,” Young said.

Young said Roberson could be called to testify before a House committee as long as it doesn’t affect his execution date.

Roberson was scheduled to be executed at the state prison in Huntsville for the death of his two-year-old daughter, Nikki, in February 2002.

A new execution date can now be scheduled, but there is a 91-day gap between setting a new date and the actual execution.

A bipartisan group of 86 Texas lawmakers called for clemency for Roberson, citing “a wealth of new scientific evidence” that casts doubt on Roberson’s guilt.

According to his lawyers, Roberson will be the first person executed in the United States with a diagnosis of shaken baby syndrome.

His case attracted the attention not only of Texas lawmakers, but also of bestselling American novelist John Grisham, medical experts and the Innocence Project, which works to overturn wrongful convictions.

His supporters include the man who put him behind bars – Palestine town’s former chief detective Brian Wharton – who said: “Knowing everything I know now, I firmly believe that Robert is an innocent man.”

Roberson has always maintained her innocence, and her attorney, Gretchen Sween, said new medical and scientific evidence shows her daughter died of “natural and accidental causes, not abuse.”

Sween said that the diagnosis of shaken baby syndrome made at the hospital where Roberson’s chronically ill daughter died was erroneous and that the cause of death was actually pneumonia and was aggravated by doctors prescribing inappropriate medication.

He said Roberson’s autism spectrum disorder, which was not diagnosed until 2018, also contributed to his arrest and conviction.

This year, there were 21 executions in the United States, 5 of which were in Texas.