US puts inmate to death for first time since Christa Pike’s botched execution

• Jamaal Howard, 46, was executed by lethal injection in Texas on Wednesday evening for the 2000 murder of convenience store worker Vickie Swartout.
• Howard became the 30th person executed in the United States this year and the seventh in Texas in 2026.
• In his final statement, Howard apologized profusely to members of Swartout's family who were present and asked for their forgiveness.
• Defense attorneys unsuccessfully appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court and state courts, arguing Howard was intellectually disabled and challenging the quality of the execution drugs.
• The execution proceeded despite a failed lethal injection attempt on Christa Pike involving the same drug in Tennessee a week prior.

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