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A retired Texas judge who signed the execution warrant for death row inmate Robert Robertson earlier this year has recused herself from her case.

The court filing was signed Monday by Senior State District Judge Deborah Oakes Evans of Anderson County. No specific reason was given to justify his decision.

“I have not yet received this motion and I know nothing about what prompted Judge Evans to sign this order shortly before Thanksgiving,” Gretchen Sween, Roberson’s attorney, told the Texas Tribune.

Roberson was convicted of capital murder in 2003 for the death of his 2-year-old daughter, Nikki Curtis, who was chronically ill. At his trial, prosecutors accused Roberson of shaking Nikki so violently that she died. But Roberson, who was diagnosed with autism after his conviction, has maintained his innocence.

Evans’ involvement in the Roberson case began in 2016, when she oversaw Roberson’s legal challenge after his first execution was stayed and the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals sent his case back to the court of first instance. After a nine-day hearing, Evans recommended that any relief be denied.

She then retired from the bench in 2022. But in 2024, her case was assigned to her after the state of Texas requested a new execution date. Evans set it for October 17.

Roberson’s attorneys, including Sween, quickly requested a hearing before Evans, but those requests were denied.

On September 25, his lawyers requested that the execution warrant be quashed and requested that Evans voluntarily recuse himself.

In their filings seeking recusal, defense attorneys cited “the opaque process” in which Evans suddenly returned after retirement to preside over the case. The motion also mentioned the judge’s “deep personal relationships” with the original prosecutor in his case, the judge who terminated Roberson’s parental rights and the current Anderson County prosecutor, who opposed Roberson’s habeas.

When Evans refused to step down, the argument was heard by an administrative judge on October 15, two days before Roberson was scheduled to be executed. The motion for recusal was denied.

The next day, Evans denied a motion to recall the execution.

But the day before his execution, the Texas House Committee on Criminal Jurisprudence intervened, expressing his claims of innocence and lack of due process. The panel’s surprise decision to subpoena Roberson on October 16 and then managed to delay his execution.

On November 12, the Texas Supreme Court ruled that the committee’s subpoena cannot prevent the execution of a death row inmate. The state can continue with a new execution date, but the House committee, whose members believe Roberson was convicted based on flawed science, is still waiting for him to provide testimony on his conviction and appeals.

No new execution date has been set.