A Texas man was executed on Wednesday for fatally shooting a convenience store clerk in 2000, making him the first person executed in the United States since a botched attempt last week in Tennessee.
The man, Jamaal Howard, 46, was convicted of capital murder and sentenced to death in 2001 in the killing of Vickie Swartout, 42. Mr. Howard was 20 when he shot Ms. Swartout, who was working at a convenience store in southeast Texas, and stole $114 from the cash register and a carton of cigarettes.
Mr. Howard was pronounced dead on Wednesday at 8:03 p.m. Central time after he received a fatal dose of pentobarbital in prison in Huntsville, Texas. His death came after requests by his lawyers to stay the execution were denied on Wednesday by the U.S. Supreme Court and the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals.
Lawyers for Mr. Howard had also asked Gov. Greg Abbott of Texas to delay the execution by 30 days while they waited for more information on the drug that would be used in the execution. The governor’s office, which did not respond to a request for comment on Wednesday, did not grant a delay. Texas uses pentobarbital for lethal injections, the same drug used in the failed execution of Christa Pike in Tennessee last week.
In his final statement, Mr. Howard apologized to the family of Ms. Swartout and thanked his family for their support, according to the Texas Department of Criminal Justice.
“I wish that you accept my apology, and I wish for your forgiveness,” Mr. Howard said. “I’m sorry for what happened. I wish you can learn to forgive me one of these days.”
After thanking his family, he added: “Warden, that’s it. I’m ready, warden.”
Brian Howard, a cousin of Mr. Howard, traveled to Huntsville from Silsbee, Texas, where the fatal shooting happened in 2000.
“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.”
Reverend Jeff Hood, who was a spiritual adviser for Mr. Howard, said that the execution on Wednesday was the 14th time that he had been in the execution chamber. He said that he was not sure how aware Mr. Howard was that he was being executed.
“He very much said the same words over and over again,” he said. “He was trying to apologize to the family, and he got it out, and then he couldn’t get it out. It was just heartbreaking.”
In a motion with the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals, Mr. Howard’s lawyers requested the stay out of concern that the injection could be botched, as it was for Ms. Pike in Tennessee. In their petition with the U.S. Supreme Court, they argued that Mr. Howard’s execution should have been halted because he has an intellectual disability
On Wednesday, lawyers for Ms. Pike, who survived two doses of pentobarbital, said she was awake, confused and in severe condition. She had pneumonia and a blood clot in one arm, and was unable to eat, they said.
Ann E. Marimow and Marisela Cruz contributed reporting.
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