Texas prepares for first execution after Tennessee injection failure

Texas plans to execute 46-year-old Jamaal Howard. It will be the first such procedure in the US since the failed attempt to execute Christa Pike in Tennessee.

Howard was convicted of murdering 42-year-old saleswoman Vicky Sworthout during a shop robbery in Silsby in 2001. His lawyers asked that the execution of the sentence be postponed, fearing a repeat of the problems that arose during the attempted execution of Pike. The defense also cited intellectual disability, which has been banned by the U.S. Supreme Court since 2002. A Texas court rejected the motion Wednesday.

For the procedure, it is planned to use pentobarbital - the same drug that was used against Pike. She was executed on September 30 for the murder of a fellow student in 1995. The appeals court suspended the process, but the U.S. Supreme Court overturned that decision.

After the procedure, Pike fell into a coma and was connected to a ventilator. On October 7, her lawyers said the woman had recovered but remained in critical condition. She is diagnosed with pneumonia, cannot swallow, and her hands are swollen and barely move. Predictions regarding the recovery of mobility are still unknown.