Texas Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty
SCHEDULED EXECUTIONS
For the third time in recent weeks, the State of Texas is scheduled to execute a Black man who was under the age of 21 at the time of the crime. Jamaal Howard faces execution on October 7, 2026, 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, and she reportedly remains hospitalized in critical condition.
On October 5, both the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals and the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles declined to intervene in the case, despite evidence of Mr. Howard’s intellectual disability. Counsel for Mr. Howard have asked Texas Governor Greg Abbott to exercise his constitutional authority to issue a one time, 30-day reprieve given the unanswered questions about the drug the State intends to use in the lethal injection.
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.
i
TEXAS DEATH PENALTY FACTS
Learn more at Texas Death Penalty Facts and follow us on social media for the latest developments.