The Texas Board of Pardons and Parole’s six members voted unanimously to deny the request. The decision came as lawmakers raised concerns that the courts were not properly implementing a groundbreaking 2013 “junk science” law that was intended to provide justice to people convicted based on scientific evidence that has since changed or been debunked.

Robert Roberson, the first person set to be executed in the U.S. based on the largely discredited "shaken baby syndrome" hypothesis, has filed a request for a stay of execution and a petition for certiorari with the Supreme Court.

The action by the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals comes one day before Texas inmate Robert Roberson is scheduled for execution.