Texas to execute Jamaal Howard, first in US since Tennessee’s botched attempt

A Texas man who fatally shot a convenience store clerk was put to death Wednesday evening, becoming the 30th person executed in the US 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.