Houston, Texas - The Texas Supreme Court cleared the way on Friday for the state to set a new execution date for Robert Roberson, an autistic man convicted in a controversial "shaken baby" case.

The 58-year-old Roberson had been scheduled to die by lethal injection on October 17, but his execution was put on hold after he was subpoenaed to testify before a Texas House of Representatives committee.

The Texas Supreme Court temporarily stayed his execution in response to the extraordinary bipartisan subpoena from lawmakers looking into Roberson's controversial conviction and the use of "junk science" in criminal prosecutions.

The Texas attorney general appealed the decision and the Texas Supreme Court ruled on Friday that a scheduled execution cannot be halted by a subpoena from legislators.

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The case poses a "novel separation-of-powers question," Texas Supreme Court Justice Evan Young said, but "the committee's authority to compel testimony does not include the power to override the scheduled legal process leading to an execution."

"Categorically prioritizing a legislative subpoena over a scheduled execution," Young said, "would become a potent legal tool that could be wielded not just to obtain necessary testimony but to forestall an execution."

Young said Roberson can still be called to testify before the House committee as long as it does not interfere with his execution date.

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

A new execution date can now be scheduled but there is a gap of 91 days between the setting of a new date and an actual execution.

A bipartisan group of 86 Texas lawmakers has urged clemency for Roberson, citing "voluminous new scientific evidence" that casts doubt on his guilt.

Roberson would be the first person executed in the US based on a diagnosis of shaken baby syndrome, according to his lawyers.