On October 7, 2026, the State of Texas is scheduled to execute Jamaal Howard, despite unanswered questions about the drug Texas intends to use in the lethal injection.
Howard was sentenced to death for killing clerk Vickie Swartout while robbing a gas station in 2000 in Silsbee, Texas (Hardin County). He was 20 at the time of the crime and has spent more than half of his life on death row.
He is the first person to face execution after 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.
Attorneys for Mr. Howard have asked Texas Governor Greg Abbott to exercise his constitutional authority to issue a one time, 30-day reprieve so that they can obtain critical records from the Texas Department of Criminal Justice about when the drug was bought, how it was stored, and what testing was done and when.
.We need your help with amplifying this request. Please call Governor Abbott to insist on a reprieve for Jamaal Howard
Here are the numbers to call today and tomorrow (either line is fine):
Opinion Hotline: (512) 463-1782
Office of the Governor Main Switchboard: 512-463-2000
Alternatively, you can submit a message at https://gov.texas.gov/apps/contact/opinion (under Issues, select “Criminal Law and Justice).
Here is a short script for your calls and messages:
“Hello. I am calling to urge Governor Abbott to use his constitutional authority to issue a 30-day reprieve to Jamaal Howard, who faces execution on Wednesday, October 7. His attorneys have not received critical information related to the drug Texas intends to use in the lethal injection. Given the horribly botched execution of Christa Pike in Tennessee last week, it is incumbent on the Governor to stop this execution so that a similar nightmare does not unfold in Texas.”
In their request to the Governor, counsel for Mr. Howard issue a stark warning: “Texas should not wait until after a failed execution to ask the same questions” now surrounding the debacle in Tennessee.
Governor Abbott must heed this warning. Thank you for calling him today!
Additional updates and background information
Counsel for Mr. Howard first requested information about the drug on September 18, 2026, but the Texas Department of Criminal Justice (TDCJ) is stalling. On Friday, October 2, 2026, it asked the Attorney General (AG) of Texas whether it must disclose its records. The AG has 45 business days to rule, long after Mr. Howard’s scheduled execution date.
Yesterday, October 5, 2026, both the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals (CCA) and the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles declined to intervene in the case. Mr. Howard had filed a writ of habeas corpus with the Texas CCA asserting that his death sentence violates the Eighth and Fourteenth Amendments because he is an intellectually disabled person. The Texas CCA dismissed both the writ and Mr. Howard’s motion for a stay of execution without reviewing the merits of his claim.
In his application for clemency, Mr. Howard had asked the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles and Governor Abbott to commute his death sentence based on evidence of his intellectual disability and his longstanding severe mental illness, which started to manifest when he was a teenager and included auditory hallucinations at the time of the crime. Regrettably, the Board voted not to recommend the commutation of the death sentence to a lesser penalty.
While the Governor cannot commute the sentence without the Board’s recommendation, he can issue a 30-day reprieve.