Jamaal Howard was convicted of the May 12, 2000, killing of Vickie Swartout

NEED TO KNOW

• Jamaal Howard, 46, received a lethal injection on Wednesday, Oct. 7, marking the first U.S. execution since Christa Pike’s failed injections
• Howard was convicted of killing convenience store worker Vickie Swartout during a 2000 robbery caught on surveillance footage
• “Vickie’s life was taken far too soon,” Swartout’s family said ahead of the execution

Moments before a Texas man was executed for a crime he committed in 2000, his final words were to his victim’s family. 

On Wednesday, Oct. 7, 46-year-old Jamaal Howard became the first person to be executed in the United States following the Sept. 30 botched lethal injection of Christa Pike, who remains alive.

Howard was convicted of the May 12, 2000, killing of Vickie Swartout, 42, at a Silsbee convenience store where she worked during a robbery that was caught on surveillance cameras, the Associated Press reported.

Before he was given a fatal dose of pentobarbital at the state prison in Huntsville, Texas, the warden asked Howard if there was anything he would like to say.

“I wish that you accept my apology and I wish for your forgiveness,” he said as some of Swartout’s relatives watched. “I’m sorry for what happened. I wish you can learn to forgive me one of these days.”

Howard also thanked his friends and family and said he loved them, adding he was “in a good state of mind to find peace and the Lord, so I thank y’all.” 

“Hey, enjoy life, and peace to y’all,” he concluded, per AP. He was pronounced dead at 8:03 p.m.

On the eve of his execution, Swartout’s family shared a statement with local CBS affiliate KFDM, remembering her as “an amazing person with a heart bigger than anyone could imagine.”

The devoted daughter, sister, and aunt, who was “the kind of person who would do anything for anyone,” had moved in with her mother to help care for her great-niece and nephew before she was killed.

“She was someone they could depend on,” her family continued. “Someone who was always there when she was needed. Vickie’s life was taken far too soon, leaving behind a family who loved her and a lifetime of memories that can never be replaced. She may be gone, but she will never be forgotten.”

One of Swartout’s friends, who asked to remain anonymous, claimed Howard and his victim knew each other.

“If he’d have asked her for money to buy something, or because he needed money, she would have bought it for him or given it to him. Vickie deserves justice. She was a wonderful, good-hearted person,” her friend told KFDM.

There had been previous discussions about Howard’s mental competency, according to the local news station.

In an attempt to stop the execution, his legal team argued that he was intellectually disabled, CBS News reported. 

Amanda Hernandez, a spokesperson for the Texas Department of Criminal Justice, recalled Howard’s behavior as he was transported to the lethal injection location.

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“He made small talk with the officers through the whole trip,” she said per CBS News, later adding, “He was asking questions and was very engaged in the process.”

Howard’s attorneys had attempted to have his lethal injection thrown out, citing, in part, Pike’s case as the convicted murderer, 50, is awake after previously being declared brain dead following the faulty procedure in Tennessee, per CBS News.

“Texas should not be eager to follow in Tennessee’s footsteps; a stay would keep that from happening,” Howard’s attorneys reportedly argued in their filing.  

“There is a similar risk, that Texas’s execution drugs are likewise degraded, as they are far past the original beyond-use dates that the pharmacopeia allows for drugs of this kind,” his attorneys said.

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