Texas executed Jamaal Howard, 46, on Wednesday evening at the state prison in Huntsville. He was pronounced dead at 8:03 p.m. after receiving a fatal dose of pentobarbital, becoming the 30th person executed in the United States this year and the first since Tennessee's failed attempt to execute Christa Pike on September 30. Howard was convicted of capital murder in the 2000 killing of Vickie Swartout, a 42-year-old convenience store clerk who was shot once in the chest during a robbery in Silsbee, about 100 miles northeast of Houston, that was caught on surveillance video.

Asked by the warden for a final statement, Howard apologized profusely to members of Swartout's family, who watched through a viewing window just feet from the death chamber. 'I wish that you accept my apology and I wish for your forgiveness,' he said, adding, 'I'm sorry for what happened. I wish you can learn to forgive me one of these days.' He also thanked friends and family and said he was 'in a good state of mind to find peace and the Lord.' According to the AP, his sister among the witnesses became distraught, exclaiming 'Get me out of here' several times before officers escorted her out.

Florida leads the country with 16 executions this year, and Texas has now carried out seven, with two more scheduled later in 2026. Howard's attorneys also argued he was intellectually disabled, a category the Supreme Court barred from execution in 2002, but the state said his lawyers presented no evidence meeting that claim's requirements. Critics question whether states can ensure execution drugs are safe and effective.

Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee has halted the state's one remaining execution this year and ordered a third-party investigation into Pike's failed lethal injection, the state's second botched attempt in 2026, while the Tennessee prisons chief is resigning, the AP notes. A judge has ordered officials to preserve all evidence tied to Pike's execution, and her lawyers are seeking more information about what went wrong; she reportedly has pneumonia and a blood clot and faces what one attorney calls a long recovery. Texas plans two more lethal injections this year, keeping the drug-quality dispute in play.