Jamaal Howard, a 46-year-old man convicted of killing a convenience store clerk during a robbery, was executed in Texas on Wednesday evening after the Supreme Court declined to halt the execution. The execution took place despite concerns raised by Howard's attorneys regarding the lethal injection drug used, which was the same drug involved in a failed execution attempt in Tennessee last week.
Howard was pronounced dead at 8:03 p.m. He was sentenced to death for the 2000 murder of 42-year-old Vickie Swartout in Silsbee, Texas. His attorneys highlighted the recent case of Christa Pike, who survived two doses of pentobarbital during her execution attempt on September 30, arguing that the same drug could pose risks in Howard's case.
“Texas should not be eager to follow in Tennessee’s footsteps; a stay would keep that from happening,” Howard’s attorneys stated in their filing. However, the Supreme Court rejected his emergency appeal without providing an explanation. Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson was the only justice to publicly dissent, according to Fox News.
The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals had previously denied two requests to stop the execution based on concerns about the drug's use. As the pentobarbital began to take effect, Howard reportedly took a couple of breaths and gasped before making snoring sounds, which gradually quieted. He was pronounced dead 19 minutes after the execution began.
Howard's attorneys had also requested information regarding the dosage of pentobarbital planned for the execution. Their concerns were partly based on Pike's execution attempt, during which she survived two doses of the drug. On the same day as Howard's execution, a Tennessee judge granted a request from Pike’s attorneys to preserve evidence related to her failed execution.
According to the Death Penalty Information Center, Pike is the first person to survive a lethal injection in the modern era. Additionally, Howard's attorneys argued before the Supreme Court that his execution should be halted due to claims of intellectual disability, but the state contended that no evidence was presented to establish that he met the legal criteria for such a claim. Howard was convicted of capital murder for the shooting of Swartout, who was shot once in the chest during the robbery, from which Howard also stole $114 from the cash register.