Texas carries out first U.S. execution since Pike's failed injection as judge orders evidence saved

Texas executed a man Wednesday night using pentobarbital, the same drug Tennessee used in its failed attempt to execute Christa Pike one week earlier. It was the first execution in the United States since Pike survived her lethal injection on Sept. 30.

Hours earlier in Nashville, a judge ordered Tennessee prison officials to preserve all evidence from Pike's execution attempt.

## The Texas execution

Jamaal Howard, 46, was pronounced dead at 8:03 p.m. Wednesday, according to the Texas Department of Criminal Justice, The Texas Tribune reported. He was convicted of shooting and killing a 42-year-old convenience store clerk during a 2000 robbery in Silsbee, Texas. He was 20 at the time.

Witness accounts reported by the AP and Fox 26 Houston described no complications. Howard took a few breaths, gasped and coughed, and his movement stopped within about 30 seconds, according to those accounts.

In his final statement, Howard apologized to the victim's family. "I wish that you accept my apology, and I wish for your forgiveness," he said, according to the Tribune.

Howard was the seventh person executed in Texas this year, the Tribune reported.

## Why the case was tied to Pike

Howard's lawyers argued that Texas faced the same kind of risk Tennessee did. According to CBS News and the AP, they said Texas's compounded pentobarbital could be degraded because it was past its beyond-use dates. They also said the state had not let them review the drug's history.

They asked Gov. Greg Abbott for a 30-day delay "within days of the same drug failing in another state," the Tribune reported. Abbott did not respond, according to the Tribune.

Howard's lawyers also argued that he has a mental illness and is intellectually disabled, which would make him ineligible for the death penalty. The U.S. Supreme Court banned executing people with intellectual disabilities in 2002 but lets states set some of the rules for deciding who qualifies. The state argued that Howard had not presented evidence meeting the legal standard, CBS reported.

The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals denied a filing made Wednesday morning, and the U.S. Supreme Court rejected two appeals that had briefly delayed the execution, according to the Tribune.

## Tennessee judge orders evidence saved

In Nashville on Wednesday, a judge in Davidson County Chancery Court granted an emergency motion from Pike's attorneys to preserve evidence from the Sept. 30 execution attempt, NPR reported.

The order covers log books, medical waste and all messages sent or received by officials connected to the attempt. "Anything in the actual room needs to be preserved and maintained," Chancellor I'Ashea Myles said, according to NPR.

The judge also gave Pike's lawyers broad access to her. Prison officials have two hours to respond to their requests for in-person visits, NPR reported.

Luke P. Ihnen, an assistant federal defender representing Pike, called the hearing a "first step" toward enforcing her constitutional rights. He said it would be "unconscionable" for the state to try to execute her again.

Assistant Attorney General John W. Ayers, who argued for the state, said any decision on a new execution date rests with the Tennessee Supreme Court, according to NPR.

## Where Pike's case stands

Pike, sentenced to death for a 1995 killing she committed at 18, received two doses of pentobarbital and survived, according to NPR. Her attorneys say she is now awake and speaking but still receiving critical care.

Since the failed attempt, Tennessee's top prison official, Frank Strada, has resigned. Gov. Bill Lee has paused executions through the end of the year and ordered an independent investigation, NPR reported. It is not clear whether that pause affects a second attempt to execute Pike.

Pike's lawyers have also filed a clemency petition asking the governor to change her sentence to life without parole.

## What happens next

The evidence order means the state must keep the physical and digital records of what happened in the execution room while lawyers fight over Pike's future. Any new execution date for Pike would have to come from the Tennessee Supreme Court, and Tennessee's pause on executions runs through the end of 2026.

In Texas, CBS and the AP reported that two more executions are scheduled this year. Both states use pentobarbital, so how Tennessee's investigation explains Pike's survival could shape future legal challenges.