Texas executes Jamaal Howard one week after Christa Pike’s failed execution

HUNTSVILLE, Texas – The Associated Press is reporting the execution of Jamaal Howard has been carried out by the state of Texas. 

Jamaal Howard executed by state of Texas

What we know:

According to the Associated Press, Howard was pronounced dead at 8:03 p.m. after receiving a fatal dose of pentobarbital at the state prison in Huntsville, Texas. 

According to the report, when the warden was asked if Howard had a final statement, the warden said Howard apologized profusely to members of his victim’s family who watched through a window. 

“I wish that you accept my apology and I wish for your forgiveness,” Howard said, shortly before the injection got underway. “I’m sorry for what happened. I wish you can learn to forgive me one of these days.”

He also thanked his friends and family and said he loved them, adding that he was, “in a good state of mind to find peace and the Lord, so I thank y’all.” He concluded with: “Hey, enjoy life, and peace to y’all,” the Associated Press reported. 

As the lethal dose of pentobarbital began taking effect, he took a couple of breaths and gasped. He then began making snoring sounds, coughed and resumed the snoring sounds, each sound becoming quieter. Within about 30 seconds, all movement stopped. 
He was pronounced dead 19 minutes later, according to the Associated Press. 

The execution comes after Howard’s attorneys unsuccessfully sought to block the execution by arguing that he was intellectually disabled and that he faced the same risks, similar to those of Christa Pike’s case, because both states use pentobarbital for lethal injections. 

A spokesperson for the Texas Department of Criminal Justice told the Associated Press that Howard was “chatty” during the 45-mile drive from the death row prison to the Huntsville Unit where the executions are carried out.

“He made small talk with the officers through the whole trip” before being taken to a holding cell near the death chamber,” the spokesperson said to the Associated Press. “He was asking questions and was very engaged in the process.” 

Howard was convicted in a 2000 deadly robbery of a convenience store which killed a woman.

Howard, 46, is the seventh inmate executed in Texas this year.

Texas man executed

What we know:

Howard was 20-years-old when he robbed a convenience store in Silsbee, north of Beaumont, on May 12, 2000. He shot and killed 42-year-old store clerk Vickie Swartout in the chest. Howard took $114 from the register during the robbery and a pack of cigarettes.

The Associated Press reports evidence showed during the trial included surveillance video from inside the store which showed Howard shooting Swartout.

He was convicted of capital murder in Hardin County less than a year later and sentenced to death, according to The Texas Tribune.

Howard’s attorneys argue Howard is intellectually disabled, so his execution should be halted, the AP stated. However, the state argued evidence has not been presented to show he meets the requirements for a claim of intellectual disability.

First execution in U.S. since failed Tennessee execution

The backstory:

Howard’s execution is scheduled as the first in the United States since a failed execution attempt in Tennessee on Sept. 30 involving Christa Pike. Pike survived after being injected with two lethal drug doses of pentobarbital. She was hospitalized and as of Tuesday, reports state she was awake and speaking.

AP reports Howard would be receiving the same drug used on Pike, pentobarbital. His attorneys are asking a judge to stay his execution, set for Wednesday, the drug poses the same risks and they believe the state’s supply has become degraded.

“There is a similar risk,” Howard’s attorneys wrote, “that Texas’s execution drugs are likewise degraded, as they are far past the original beyond-use dates that the pharmacopeia allows for drugs of this kind.”

According to AP News, the motion filed in the Court of Criminal Appeals in Texas early Wednesday said Howard’s attorneys filed requests for information about the lethal dose of pentobarbital the Texas Department of Criminal Justice planned to use.