Texas court denies request to stop man’s execution over Christa Pike’s failed lethal injection

Key Points:

• A Texas court denied a request to halt the execution of Jamaal Howard, who was scheduled to be executed Wednesday for a 2000 convenience store clerk shooting, despite concerns raised about the lethal injection drug pentobarbital following a failed execution attempt in Tennessee.
• Howard’s attorneys argued that using pentobarbital posed similar risks as in the failed execution of Christa Pike, who survived after receiving two doses of the drug, but the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals declined to stay the execution without explanation.
• Howard, described as talkative and engaged during his transfer to the death chamber, was convicted based on surveillance video showing him shooting the clerk during a robbery; his lawyers claim he is intellectually disabled and appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court to halt the execution.
• The attorneys also sought information about the lethal dose of pentobarbital Texas planned to use, but the state requested an attorney general opinion on whether it must disclose that information, delaying potential litigation.
• Texas has executed six people so far in 2026, with two more scheduled, while Florida leads the nation with 16 executions this year; Tennessee’s governor has paused executions for the remainder of the year following the failed lethal injection.