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.

The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals on Thursday night reversed an order by a Travis County judge who had issued a temporary restraining order halting the execution of death row inmate Robert Roberson.