Texas execution: Jamaal Howard faces lethal injection in 2000 clerk murder

A Texas man convicted of fatally shooting a convenience store clerk during a robbery in 2000 is set to be executed by lethal injection on Wednesday. Jamaal Howard, 46, was found guilty of capital murder in the killing of Vickie Swartout, 42, and is due to receive a lethal dose of pentobarbital.

Howard's execution would be the 30th in the United States this year and the first scheduled one since Tennessee's failed attempt last week to execute Christa Pike. Pike's lawyers said on Tuesday that she was awake and speaking as she received treatment at a hospital.

Swartout was shot once in the chest during a robbery at a store in Silsbee, a small rural town about 161 kilometres northeast of Houston. Court records said Howard, who was 20 at the time, took USD 114 and a carton of cigarettes from the store. Prosecutors presented surveillance video from the shop at trial, which showed Howard shooting Swartout.

Howard's lawyers have argued that he is intellectually disabled and that his execution should be stopped. The state has said he has not presented evidence showing that he meets the requirements for such a claim. He also has an appeal pending before the US Supreme Court seeking to halt the execution.

The US Supreme Court ruled in 2002 that intellectually disabled people cannot be executed, but it has allowed states some discretion in deciding how such disabilities are determined. Texas has carried out six executions so far this year, and two more are scheduled after Howard. Florida has carried out 16 executions this year, the highest number of any state.

Howard is set to be put to death after being convicted in the 2000 killing of Swartout, with his final legal efforts focused on his claim of intellectual disability. If carried out, the execution would add to a year in which Texas has already executed six people and Florida has led the country in executions.

With PTI Inputs

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