Texas executes first US death since Tennessee's botched injection

Jamaal Howard was executed Wednesday in Texas, becoming the first person put to death in the US since a Tennessee inmate survived a failed lethal injection last week. The 46-year-old was pronounced dead at 8.03pm at the state prison in Huntsville after receiving a fatal dose of pentobarbital.

Howard’s lawyers asked the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals to stop the execution, writing that “Texas should not be eager to follow in Tennessee’s footsteps.” They warned the state might use a degraded supply of pentobarbital that is past its beyond-use date. Both the state appeals court and the US Supreme Court denied requests to halt the process on Wednesday without providing reasons.

The legal push came just days after Christa Pike survived two doses of pentobarbital in Tennessee. Pike regained consciousness on Tuesday and now suffers from pneumonia and an inability to move her arms. Tennessee Governor Bill Lee has barred all further lethal injections for the rest of the year and ordered an investigation into the botched procedure.

Howard faced execution for a 2001 robbery that ended with the death of 42-year-old clerk Vickie Swartout in Silsbee. His legal team repeatedly argued that intellectual disability at the time of the crime made him ineligible for the death penalty under a 2002 supreme court ruling. Texas has executed six people so far this year. Two more lethal injections are scheduled after Howard, who is the 30th person executed nationwide in 2026.

Before the injection began, Howard addressed Swartout’s family, who watched from a viewing window near the death chamber. “I wish that you accept my apology and I wish for your forgiveness,” he said. “I’m sorry for what happened. I wish you can learn to forgive me one of these days.”