Texas Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty
SCHEDULED EXECUTIONS
Tonight, October 7, 2026, the State of Texas is scheduled to execute Jamaal Howard for killing clerk Vickie Swartout while robbing a gas station in 2000 in Silsbee, Texas (Hardin County). He was 20 at the time and has spent more than half of his life on death row.
Mr. Howard is the first person to face execution since the horribly botched execution of Christa Pike in Tennessee on September 30, 2026. Ms. Pike survived two lethal doses of pentobarbital, the same drug used in executions in Texas. On October 6, her attorneys reported that she is now conscious and speaking but remains hospitalized in critical condition.
Mr. Howard has asked the Supreme Court of the United States to issue a stay, asserting that he is ineligible for the execution because of his intellectual disability. That request remains pending before the Justices.
Additionally, counsel for Mr. Howard have asked Texas Governor Greg Abbott to exercise his constitutional authority to issue a 30-day reprieve given the unanswered questions about the drug the State intends to use in the lethal injection.
Earlier today, the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals denied Mr. Howard’s request for a stay. He had asked the Court to intervene after the Texas Department of Criminal Justice refused to disclose critical information about the efficacy and potency of the drug it intends to use in his execution. His attorneys asserted the stay would give them time to access and evaluate the agency’s records to ensure the drug has not degraded.
Please continue to call Governor Abbott to urge him to issue a 30-day reprieve to Jamaal Howard. It is incumbent on the Governor to stop this execution so that what happened in Tennessee does not unfold in Texas.
WHO WE ARE
The Texas Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty (TCADP) is the only statewide grassroots advocacy organization dedicated solely to ending the death penalty in Texas. Together with local, state, and national partners, TCADP is working to reduce use of the death penalty in Texas and, ultimately, end this arbitrary, irreversible, and unfair punishment.
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TEXAS DEATH PENALTY FACTS
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