Texas carries out 30th US execution of 2026

Texas executed Jamaal Howard, 46, on Wednesday evening for the 2000 killing of convenience store clerk Vickie Swartout, 42, making him the 30th person executed in the US this year, according to American media.

Howard was pronounced dead at 8.03 pm (0103GMT Thursday) after receiving a lethal dose of pentobarbital at the state prison in Huntsville, NBC News reported.

He was convicted of capital murder after surveillance video showed him shooting Swartout once in the chest during a robbery at a store in Silsbee, about 100 miles (161 kilometers) northeast of Houston. Howard, who was 20 at the time, stole $114 and carton of cigarettes.

Before the execution, Howard apologized to members of Swartout’s family who witnessed it. “I wish that you accept my apology and I wish for your forgiveness,” he said. “I’m sorry for what happened. I wish you can learn to forgive me one of these days.” He also thanked his family and friends, saying he was “in a good state of mind to find peace and the Lord.”

Howard’s attorneys unsuccessfully asked the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals and the US Supreme Court to halt the execution, arguing that he was intellectually disabled and raising concerns about the state’s execution drugs. The Supreme Court declined to intervene late Wednesday.

Howard’s execution was the first in the US since Tennessee’s failed attempt to execute Christa Pike on Sept. 30, when she survived two doses of pentobarbital. Texas has carried out seven executions this year and has two more scheduled, while Florida leads the nation with 16.

Amanda Hernandez, a Texas Department of Criminal Justice spokesperson, said Howard remained “chatty” during the 45-mile trip to the Huntsville execution facility, where he “made small talk with the officers through the whole trip.”

Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee has halted the state’s only remaining scheduled execution this year.