Who Was Jamaal Howard? Texas Executes Inmate with Pentobarbital After Christa Pike Survived Botched Execution

A Texas death row inmate was executed by lethal injection after the U.S. Supreme Court rejected a last-minute plea to halt the execution, following the botched execution of Christa Pike. Jamaal Howard, 46, was pronounced dead at 8:03 p.m. on Wednesday after being administered a lethal dose of pentobarbital at the state prison in Huntsville.

He was convicted in the 2000 killing of Vickie Swartout, 42, during a store robbery that was captured on surveillance camera. When the warden asked whether he had any final words, Howard repeatedly apologized to members of his victim’s family, who watched the execution from a viewing room just feet away from the death chamber.

“I wish that you accept my apology and I wish for your forgiveness,” he 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.”

Howard then expressed his love for his friends and family and thanked them before saying he was “in a good state of mind to find peace and the Lord, so I thank y’all.” He ended his final statement by saying, “Hey, enjoy life, and peace to y’all.”

Without Any Glitch

As the pentobarbital took effect, Howard took several breaths before gasping. He then began snoring, followed by a cough, before the snoring resumed and gradually grew quieter. About 30 seconds later, he stopped moving. Nineteen minutes later, he was pronounced dead.

The execution took place only hours after Howard’s attorneys made an urgent request for a judge to halt it, pointing to the failed execution of Pike in Tennessee the previous week.

Howard’s attorneys argued that Texas faced similar concerns because it planned to use pentobarbital, the same drug administered during Pike’s failed execution. They claimed the state’s supply may have deteriorated and could carry comparable risks.

Dr. Jeff Hood, Howard’s spiritual adviser, later wrote about the case for the Texas Observer, recounting Howard’s reaction after learning about Pike’s botched execution. “When I told him that the drugs didn’t work in her case, he didn’t understand what drugs I was talking about. To him, nothing made sense. Suddenly both of us fell silent.

“Finally Jamaal said: ‘I guess if the drugs don’t work, they’ll just shoot me in the head.'”

Controversy Continues

Pike’s attorneys have continued seeking answers about the problems surrounding her execution after the 50-year-old survived two doses of pentobarbital. She was hospitalized and, as of Tuesday, had regained consciousness and was able to speak.

Her lawyers have alleged that the execution was complicated by blown veins, in which a needle passes through a vein and allows blood and fluid to leak, as well as deteriorated pentobarbital and inadequate emergency medical treatment in Tennessee.

“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.”

Texas has now carried out six executions this year, with two more planned following Howard’s execution, bringing the nationwide total to 30 in 2026.

Howard was convicted of capital murder for the 2000 killing of Vickie Swartout, 42, who was shot in the chest during a robbery. Prosecutors presented surveillance footage from the store that showed Howard shooting Swartout.

Howard was 20 at the time of the killing. Court records say he took $114 and a carton of cigarettes from the store in Silsbee, a small rural community about 100 miles northeast of Houston.

Howard’s attorneys have argued that he is intellectually disabled and should not be put to death. State prosecutors, however, argued that his legal team had failed to provide evidence demonstrating that he meets the criteria for an intellectual disability claim.

The Supreme Court ruled in 2002 that executions of intellectually disabled people are unconstitutional, while allowing states some flexibility in determining whether a person qualifies as intellectually disabled.

In a motion filed early Wednesday with the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals, Howard’s attorneys said they had sought information about the pentobarbital dose that the Texas Department of Criminal Justice planned to administer during his execution.

They said the department sought an opinion from the state attorney general on whether it was legally required to release the information, despite what they described as a “years-long practice of disclosing information.”