Texas is scheduled to carry out an execution today, Wednesday 7 October 2026, which would be the first in the US since a botched lethal injection in Tennessee last week. Lawyers for Jamaal Howard, a Texas man on death row, are seeking to halt the execution, citing similar risks to the case of Christa Pike.
Howard, 46, was found guilty of capital murder in 2001 for robbing a convenience store in Silsbee and fatally shooting 42-year-old clerk Vickie Swartout. His legal team has argued that he was intellectually disabled at the time of the crime, which would make him ineligible for the death penalty under a 2002 Supreme Court ruling.
Christa Pike reportedly survived two doses of the barbiturate pentobarbital, the same sedative Texas officials plan to administer to Howard. Pike regained consciousness on Tuesday and her lawyers state she has pneumonia and is unable to move her arms. Her execution was the second botched execution in Tennessee this year, leading Governor Bill Lee to bar further lethal injections for the rest of the year and order a probe.
Howard's attorneys filed a motion today with Texas's court of criminal appeals, stating there is a similar risk that Texas's execution drugs are degraded, as they are past their original beyond-use dates. This appeal follows the fifth circuit court of appeals declining a request to stop Howard's execution last week.