DALLAS — A Texas court on Wednesday refused to halt the execution of a man who fatally shot a convenience store clerk after his attorneys cited the failed lethal injection of Christa Pike in Tennessee.
The execution in Texas, which was set to take place later Wednesday, would be the first in the U.S. since Pike survived her execution last week.
Because the same drug used in Pike's attempted execution — pentobarbital — would be used in Texas for 46-year-old Jamaal Howard, his attorneys argued to the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals the drug poses the same risks. His lawyers also raised concerns over the quality of the state's execution drugs.
The court denied the stay request without elaboration.
Pike's lawyers are seeking more information about what went wrong after the 50-year-old Pike survived two doses of pentobarbital on Sept. 30. She was hospitalized and on Wednesday was awake and speaking.
“Texas should not be eager to follow in Tennessee’s footsteps; a stay would keep that from happening,” Howard's attorneys had argued to the court.
Texas has executed six people so far this year, with two more scheduled after Howard, who would become the 30th person executed nationwide in 2026.
A killing caught on surveillance video
Howard was found guilty of capital murder in the 2000 killing of Vickie Swartout, 42, who was shot once in the chest during a robbery. Evidence presented at the trial included the store’s surveillance video, which showed Howard shooting Swartout.
Howard, who was 20 at the time, took $114 and a carton of cigarettes from the store in the small, rural town of Silsbee, about 100 miles (161 kilometers) northeast of Houston, according to court records.
His attorneys have argued that Howard is intellectually disabled and his execution should be halted. The state said that he has not presented evidence that would show he meets the requirements for a claim of intellectual disability.
He has appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court to stop the execution.
The Supreme Court in 2002 had barred the execution of intellectually disabled people. But it has given states some discretion in how they determine such disabilities.
Motion to stay because of drugs
The motion filed in the Court of Criminal Appeals in Texas early Wednesday said Howard's attorneys had filed requests for information about the lethal dose of pentobarbital the Texas Department of Criminal Justice planned to use. They say the department asked for a state attorney general opinion about whether they would have to disclose that information, despite a “years-long practice of disclosing information.”
The Texas attorney general opinion is not expected to be returned until after Wednesday, meaning Howard can't litigate whatever decision the state might make on releasing that information, they argued.
Texas officials did not immediately return a request for comment Wednesday morning.
Executions in the US this year
Florida has carried out 16 executions so far this year, the most of any state. Most states that allow executions use lethal injection as their primary method.
Tennessee's Republican Gov. Bill Lee has halted the one remaining execution for the rest of the year.
Copyright 2026 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
