HUNTSVILLE, Texas — A Texas man was executed on Wednesday, making him the first person put to death by lethal injection since a botched attempt last week in Tennessee.
Jamaal Howard, 46, was pronounced dead at 8:03 p.m. CT after receiving a fatal dose of pentobarbital at the state prison in Huntsville, The New York Times reported. He had been on death row since 2001 after his conviction for killing Vickie Swartout, 42, in a 2000 convenience store robbery that was caught on surveillance cameras.
Howard’s death came after requests by his attorneys for a stay were denied on Wednesday by the U.S. Supreme Court and the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals, according to the newspaper..
“I wish that you accept my apology and I wish for your forgiveness,” Howard said in his final statement before the injection. “I’m sorry for what happened. I wish you can learn to forgive me one of these days.
“Warden, that’s it. I’m ready, warden.”
Howard was 20 when he shot Swartout and took $114 and a carton of cigarettes from the convenience store in Silsbee, a small, rural town about 100 miles northeast of Houston, according to The Associated Press.
In their appeal, Howard’s attorneys said they had asked for information about the doses of pentobarbital the Texas Department of Criminal Justice planned to use to execute the inmate, Fox News reported.
They said their concerns came in part from Tennessee’s attempt to execute Christa Pike, who survived two doses of the drug used for lethal injections, according to the news outlet.
[ Attorneys: Christa Pike conscious, speaking days after failed execution ]
As the drug began taking effect, Howard took several breaths and gasped, the AP reported. He then began making snoring sounds, coughed and resumed snoring sounds. Within about 30 seconds, all movement stopped.
He was pronounced dead 19 minutes later.
Brian Howard, a cousin of the inmate, traveled to the prison from Silsbee, according to the Times.
“It was absolutely no justice for Jamaal,” he said. “They didn’t consider nothing. All they see in my county is Black and white. He killed the white woman, he got to die.”
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