US3 min(s) read
Texas executes Jamaal Howard despite concerns over Christa Pike case
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Just days after the botched execution of Christa Pike in Tennessee, Jamaal Howard has been put to death by lethal injection in Texas.
Jamaal Howard, 46, was injected with the same controversial pentobarbital drugs that failed to kill Pike, despite concerns over how effective it is.
Jamaal Howard becomes the first prisoner executed since Christa Pike incident
Howard was executed in Texas, despite last ditch attempts from his lawyer to stop the sentence being carried out.
They expressed concern about what happened at the Pike failed execution, as well as claiming that their client is intellectually disabled.
Those claims were dismissed by the state, and Howard was put to death at 8:03PM local time.
In 2000, Howard murdered mother-of-three Vicky Swartout during a gas station robbery in a town outside of Houston.
What happened to Christa Pike?
Pike was found guilty of the 1995 murder of Colleen Slemmer and sentenced to death.
On September 30 that sentence was set to be carried out, but things went wrong.
After her lawyers had predicted problems finding a vein, as well as other potential complication, those exact problems seemed to occur.
That meant that instead of dying, Pike ended up in a critical condition in the hospital, yet still alive.
Despite initial fears she was braindead, she rallied and is now awake and speaking according to her lawyers.
They have asked that her sentence be commuted to life without parole, should she eventually be able and well enough to return to prison.
Her case caused a statement from Howard, and his lawyers also argued for a stay of execution after Pike’s death.
They called the incident ‘troubling’, but ultimately the courts decided that his execution should go ahead.
Jamaal Howard undergoes the lethal injection
Howard’s spiritual adviser told USA Today that the concern over the recent failed execution was causing the prisoner a ‘tremendous amount of anxiety’.
Rev. Jeff Hood said: "One of these executions could be botched at any time and at any place,
"What happened in Tennessee shows all of us what’s possible.
"Instead of trying to get ourselves to places where we limit the horrifying situations, we perpetuate them and call them normal.”
His lawyers also argued that their client has an IQ as low as 70 and is - by today’s standards - intellectually disabled.
The state called those claims ‘meritless’ and wrote: "Twenty-six years have passed since Howard murdered Vickie Swartout,
"Justice for Howard’s victims should be denied no longer.”
After the sentence was carried out, Hood told reporters that Howard didn’t understand the instructions of prison guards, had forgotten who he (Hood) was, and had difficulty getting through his final words.
Jamaal Howard's final words
Those final words were: "I apologize (to the) Swartout family ... and I wish you had closure and peace,
"I wish that you accept my apology, and I wish for your forgiveness. I'm sorry for what happened."
He then thanked someone called 'Natalie' for 'helping me come out of my darkness' and 'the deepest times in my life,' and paid tribute to Hood for getting him 'in a good state of mind to find peace and the Lord.'
His last statement was: "I thank y'all,
"Hey, enjoy life, and peace to y'all. Warden, that's it, I'm ready."
The USA's next execution is scheduled for October 13, when Florida prisoner James Robertson is expected to face the lethal injection.