Texas executes Jamaal Howard using the same drug that FAILED to kill Christa Pike just days earlier

From the Newshound archive · first published 8 October 2026.

Texas carried out its first execution since last week's botched lethal injection of Christa Pike, putting Jamaal Howard, 46, to death with pentobarbital at the state prison in Huntsville on Wednesday. Howard was convicted of fatally shooting convenience store clerk Vickie Swartout during a robbery in 2000. His lawyers had argued the same drug used on Pike had "degraded" and was "far past its beyond-use dates" — the Supreme Court rejected the plea without comment.

Howard apologised to Swartout's family moments before the injection, saying: 'I wish you can learn to forgive me one of these days.'

Pike, meanwhile, is now 'up and walking' in hospital but remains mentally foggy, suffering pneumonia and a blood clot, with possible permanent brain damage still unconfirmed.

Tennessee Republicans are already considering alternative execution methods as the state faces severe legal hurdles over whether it can attempt to execute Pike a second time.