Texas Executes Jamaal Howard Despite Lethal Injection Drug Concerns

Texas executed Jamaal Howard, 46, on Wednesday evening, pronounced dead at 8:03 p.m. after the Supreme Court declined to grant a stay. Howard was convicted of the 2000 killing of Vickie Swartout, a 42-year-old convenience store clerk, during a robbery in Silsbee, Texas.

Howard's attorneys had raised concerns about the lethal injection drug, pentobarbital, citing a recent failed execution attempt in Tennessee. On September 30, Christa Pike, a Tennessee death row inmate, reportedly survived two doses of pentobarbital. Howard's legal team argued in their filing that Texas should avoid a similar outcome, stating, "Texas should not be eager to follow in Tennessee’s footsteps; a stay would keep that from happening."

The U.S. Supreme Court rejected Howard's emergency appeal without explanation. Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson was the sole justice to publicly dissent. The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals had also previously denied two requests to halt the execution based on these concerns.

According to reports, as the pentobarbital was administered, Howard took a few breaths and gasped. He then began making snoring sounds, coughed, and the sounds grew progressively quieter. His movements reportedly ceased after approximately 30 seconds. The execution concluded 19 minutes later.

Howard's attorneys also argued that he was intellectually disabled, but the state contended that his legal team had not provided evidence meeting the criteria for such a disability. The robbery in which Swartout was killed involved Howard, then 20 years old, taking $114 from the store's cash register after shooting Swartout once in the chest.

The concerns about pentobarbital were amplified by Pike's execution attempt, during which she allegedly remained conscious and talking after surviving the drug. On the same day as Howard's execution, a Tennessee judge granted Pike's attorneys' request to preserve evidence related to her failed execution. The Death Penalty Information Center noted that Pike is believed to be the first person in the modern era to survive a lethal injection.