Texas carries out nation’s first execution since Christa Pike’s failed lethal injection
Texas executed Jamaal Howard for a 2000 robbery and murder, marking the 30th U.S. execution of the year. The execution proceeded despite legal challenges regarding the inmate's intellectual disability and the use of pentobarbital.
Why it matters
The case underscores ongoing national debates regarding the death penalty, the use of specific lethal injection drugs, and the legal standards for executing individuals with intellectual disabilities.
HUNTSVILLE, Texas — A Texas man who fatally shot a convenience store clerk was put to death Wednesday evening, becoming the 30th person executed in the U.S. this year and the first since Tennessee’s failed attempt to administer a lethal injection to Christa Pike a week ago. Jamaal Howard, 46, was pronounced dead at 8:03 p.m. after receiving a fatal dose of pentobarbital at the state prison in Huntsville. He was convicted of killing of Vickie Swartout, 42, in a 2000 store robbery caught on surveillance video. Asked by the warden if he had a final statement, Howard apologized profusely to some members of his victim’s family, who watched through a window just feet from the death chamber. “I wish that you accept my apology and I wish for your forgiveness,” he said, shortly before the injection got underway. “I’m sorry for what happened.
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