For a second time, lawmakers seeking to depose Robert Roberson III at the Capitol closed a hearing without hearing from the death row inmate. Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton derailed efforts to have Roberson testify by filing a request for a protective order late Thursday that lawmakers criticized as a mechanism to run out the clock on their subpoena.

On Thursday, Attorney General Ken Paxton filed a motion to block the transfer of Roberson from death row to Austin for the hearing. In the motion, the AG's office claimed the committee refused to work with them on making accommodations for Roberson to testify, such as a video call.

Brian Harrison, a conservative Republican who has typically been aligned with Paxton, gave his most forceful criticism yet of the attorney general and his GOP colleagues who have asserted inmate Robert Roberson’s conviction is unquestionable.