Texas carries out lethal injection despite legal concerns being raised after Christa Pike’s case

Texas has carried out the first execution in the US since Christa Pike survived a failed lethal injection attempt, despite the inmate’s lawyers raising concerns about the same drug used in her execution.

Jamaal Howard, 46, was executed by lethal injection at a state prison in Huntsville, Texas, on Wednesday evening. He was pronounced dead at 8.03pm local time, according to the Texas Department of Criminal Justice.

Via Texas Department of Criminal Justice

His execution is the first to take place in the US since Pike’s attempted execution in Tennessee on 30th September. Pike survived after being administered two doses of pentobarbital, and her lawyers said this week that she is now conscious and speaking while receiving critical medical care. Her prognosis remains unclear.

Pentobarbital was also used in Howard’s execution, making Pike’s case a key part of his lawyers’ last-minute attempts to stop it.

Howard’s legal team argued that the execution should be delayed while questions surrounding the drug were investigated. They also argued that Howard was intellectually disabled, which they said should make him ineligible for the death penalty.

In one filing, his lawyers specifically pointed to what happened to Pike and questioned whether the drug itself could have played a role.

“Ms. Pike survived two lethal doses of pentobarbital, the same drug used in executions in Texas, and she reportedly remains hospitalised in critical condition,” they wrote.

They continued: “When an execution goes wrong, one of the first questions anyone asks is whether the drug was what the State said it was.”

Via Tennessee Department of Correction

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The lawyers said Tennessee officials had not yet been able to answer questions about the drug used during Pike’s execution attempt, including “when the drug was bought, from whom, how it was stored, and what testing was done and when”.

They argued that Texas should not wait for a similar failure before asking questions about its own supply.

“We do not know why Ms. Pike’s execution failed, and we, specifically, do not know whether the failure was due to the pentobarbital’s being ineffective,” the filing said.

Those appeals were unsuccessful, with both state and federal courts declining to halt Howard’s execution.

Howard had been on death row following his conviction for the 2000 killing of convenience store clerk Vickie Swartout during a robbery.

Writing in the Texas Observer before the execution, lawyer David Hood said Howard did not appear to understand how executions were carried out and had not heard about Pike’s failed execution or the attention it had received.

Hood said that when he explained that the drugs used during Pike’s execution attempt had not resulted in her death, Howard responded: “I guess if the drugs don’t work, they’ll just shoot me in the head.”

Howard was ultimately executed using pentobarbital, the same drug involved in Pike’s failed execution attempt. Meanwhile, Pike remains in hospital in Tennessee.

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Featured image via Tennessee Department of Correction, Texas Department of Criminal Justice