Gretchen Sween, Roberson’s attorney, said the judge’s decision Wednesday should outrage Texans, calling her client “a demonstrably innocent man.”

The family of two-year-old Nikki Curtis and Robert Roberson argued before Wednesday’s hearing that set Roberson’s execution date.

Roberson’s lawyers had objected, arguing Roberson still has an appeal pending before the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals that his legal team says contains “powerful new evidence of his innocence.”