Texas Executes Inmate After Botched Lethal Injection Concerns
Jamaal Howard becomes the first inmate executed in the US since a prior botched lethal injection raised questions about drug supply.
Texas carried out the execution of inmate Jamaal Howard by lethal injection Wednesday evening, marking the first execution in the United States since the botched attempt to execute Christa Pike last week. Howard, 46, received a fatal dose of pentobarbital at the state prison in Huntsville and was pronounced dead at 8:03 p.m. local time.
Howard was convicted and sentenced to death for the 2000 murder of convenience store clerk Vickie Swartout during a robbery. He was 20 years old at the time of the murder.
Attorneys for Howard had sought to halt the execution, citing concerns that the same drug, pentobarbital, used in the failed execution of Christa Pike in Tennessee, posed similar risks. They alleged that Texas' supply of the drug had degraded, a concern also raised by Pike's legal team.
Courts twice denied their appeals, and the U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear their case late Wednesday. Howard's lawyers had also requested a 30-day delay from Texas Governor Greg Abbott to gather more information about the execution drug, but the governor did not grant the reprieve.
During the robbery of the convenience store, Howard stole cigarettes and $114 from the register. Swartout was 42 years old at the time of her death.
Before his execution, Howard offered an apology to Swartout's family, who were present in the witness room. "I wish that you accept my apology, and I wish for your forgiveness," Howard stated. "I'm sorry for what happened. I wish you can learn to forgive me one of these days."