Lawyers seek to block Texas man’s execution, citing ‘similar risk’ to Christa Pike

Lawyers for a Texas man who is set to be executed on Wednesday are making the case to stay his lethal injection, citing Tennessee’s failed execution of Christa Pike last week.

Jamaal Howard was found guilty of capital murder in the killing of 42-year-old Vickie Swartout, who was shot once in the chest in 2000.

The 46-year-old is scheduled to receive a lethal dose of pentobarbital in the first scheduled execution since the failed attempt at putting Pike to death last week.

Howard would be the nation’s 30th execution this year and the seventh in Texas, with two more scheduled after him.

Howard’s lawyers are requesting more information about what went wrong during Pike’s execution after she survived two doses of pentobarbital.

“There is a similar risk,” Howard’s attorneys wrote, “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.”

Botched Tennessee execution

Pike’s attorneys announced on Tuesday that she was awake and speaking as she received treatment at a hospital. “Against all odds, Christa Pike is conscious, speaking, and continues to receive critical medical care. Despite the severe damage she endured to her arms, she is still handcuffed and shackled to the bed,” attorneys for Pike said in a statement.

“Her recovery is medically unprecedented. Her prognosis remains unclear but, at a minimum, we expect a long recovery.”

Her attorneys said they are grateful for the first responders and the medical team at the hospital “who treated Christa like a human and have provided exceptional care to her.”

However, Zivot cautioned that it could be weeks or months before the full extent of her recovery is known, including whether her mental competency could be restored to a level that would allow the state to attempt another execution, as reported by the Associated Press.

A killing caught on surveillance

Swartout was fatally shot during the robbery at the store in the small, rural town of Silsbee, located about 100 miles (161 kilometers) northeast of Houston. Evidence presented at the trial included the store’s surveillance video, which showed Howard shooting Swartout.

Howard, who was 20 at the time, took $114 and a carton of cigarettes from the store, according to court records.

His attorneys have argued that Howard is intellectually disabled and his execution should be halted.

The state said that he has not presented evidence that would show he meets the requirements for a claim of intellectual disability.

He has an appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court pending to stop the execution.

The Supreme Court in 2002 had barred the execution of intellectually disabled people. But it has given states some discretion in how they determine such disabilities.