Texas death row inmate Robert Roberson sat praying in a cell Thursday night just feet from the execution chamber where he was set to be put to death for the murder of his toddler – even as the state and his attorneys exchanged frantic 11th-hour legal maneuvers to determine his fate before the clock ran out.

When Derrick Dearman entered Alabama’s execution chamber Thursday evening, he was the fifth man the state put to death this year.

After helping lead the fight to free her younger brother from nearly a half-century on death row, Hideko Hakamada feels she and her brother are beginning a new chapter of their lives.

Roberson was scheduled to become the first person in the country to be executed based on "shaken baby syndrome" evidence, until Texas lawmakers subpoenaed him to testify.

Texas inmate Robert Roberson, facing execution tonight, would be the sixth person put to death by the state of Texas this year.

In a last-hour ruling Thursday night, the Texas Supreme Court halted Roberson's execution scheduled for that evening.

A Texas judge has blocked the execution of the first man to be put on death row in the US for murder charges related to "shaken baby syndrome", less than two hours before the capital punishment was due to be carried out.