Texas Executes Inmate Hours After Supreme Court Denies Appeal

Texas carried out the execution of Jamaal Howard, 46, on Wednesday evening, pronouncing him dead by lethal injection at 8:03 p.m. at the state prison in Huntsville. Howard was convicted in the 2000 killing of Vickie Swartout, 42, during a store robbery.

Howard's final words were an apology to Swartout's family, who witnessed the execution. "I wish that you accept my apology and I wish for your forgiveness," he stated. "I'm sorry for what happened. I wish you can learn to forgive me one of these days." He also expressed love for his friends and family and spoke of finding peace. During the injection of pentobarbital, Howard gasped, coughed, and made snoring sounds before all movement ceased.

The execution proceeded after his lawyers' last-minute appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court was denied. Their efforts to halt the execution cited the recent near-botched execution of Christa Pike in Tennessee, where the same drug, pentobarbital, was used. Howard's attorneys argued that the drug posed similar risks in Texas, suggesting the state's supply may have degraded beyond its recommended usage dates.

Howard was found guilty of capital murder for shooting Swartout once in the chest during a robbery in Silsbee, Texas. Surveillance video from the store showed the incident. Howard, who was 20 at the time of the crime, took $114 and a carton of cigarettes from the store. His legal team also argued that Howard is intellectually disabled, which would bar his execution under a 2002 Supreme Court ruling, but the state contended he had not provided sufficient evidence to meet the criteria for such a claim.

In Tennessee, Christa Pike, 50, survived an attempted lethal injection last week. Her attorneys stated that she remained hospitalized and was speaking limitedly. They have alleged that her execution was marred by issues including blown veins, a degraded drug supply, and a lack of emergency medical care. Pike was sentenced to death for the 1995 beating and stabbing death of her classmate, Colleen Slemmer. A judge has since ordered that all evidence from Pike's failed execution be preserved.

Texas has executed six individuals so far this year, with two more scheduled following Howard's. Nationally, Howard's was the 30th execution of 2026.