Death Row Inmate Breaks Silence: What He Reveals After Christa Pike’s Failed Execution Will Shock You
So, here we are again—death row drama taking a front seat as Christa Pike’s botched execution throws a wrench into the system. While Tennessee hits pause on the whole lethal injection circus, Texas is apparently pressing “play” on Jamaal Howard’s final act tonight. The guy’s been cooling his heels in Huntsville since 2001, awaiting the grim handshake for a murder he committed over twenty years ago. Sounds grim enough, but here’s the weird kicker: his own spiritual advisor says Howard’s “not worried” and, get this, might not even fully grasp what’s coming—confusing a death sentence with some sort of bad trip, apparently. Makes you wonder—if the drugs don’t work as intended once, could this mess happen again? Or better yet, what’s going on inside the head of a man who thinks the warden’s gonna “just shoot him in the head”? Buckle up, it’s gonna be a grim yet oddly baffling ride. LEARN MORE
In the wake of Christa Pike’s botched execution, focus has fallen on the next death row inmate set to meet his fate.
Although the state of Tennessee has paused any further executions after the 50-year-old killer survived, that isn’t the case elsewhere, meaning that Jamaal Howard will receive the lethal injection later today (7 October).
At 6pm local time (12am UK time), the 46-year-old is set to face the ultimate punishment for a murder he committed more than two decades ago – and according to his spiritual advisor, Howard is ‘not worried’.
Howard has been housed at the Texas Department of Criminal Justice in Huntsville since 2001, which is where he is set to take his last breaths in a matter of hours.
He was found guilty of killing Vickie Swartout, 42, after firing a fatal shot into her chest during an attempted robbery in 2000, when he was 20 years old.
Howard was sentenced to death for the murder of Vickie Swartout (Texas Department of Criminal Justice)
The killer has been awaiting his fate on death row for more than two decades, despite his legal team arguing that he is intellectually disabled and an extensive history of mental health issues.
According to his spiritual advisor Reverend Jeff Hood, psychiatrists determined that Howard’s IQ is in the the 65-70 range, while they described him as functioning at the level of an 11 or 12-year-old.
READ MORE: All of the failed lethal injection executions in the last decade
The State argues that there is no evidence Howard meets the criteria for intellectual disability.
Meanwhile, Howard’s lawyers are making a last-minute plea to halt the execution, citing that because the same drug used in Pike’s execution – pentobarbital – will be used to kill him, it carries the same risks of things going wrong.
“He has no idea it will end his life”
Hood has since spoken out about the conversation he had with Howard in regards to Pike’s failed execution – and has explained to Metro that the gravity of the situation did ‘not really register’.
He explained that he informed the death row inmate about what happened to Pike, telling him ‘that the drugs didn’t work and she was now in hospital’.
Like Pike, Howard is set to be injected with pentobarbital.
“I thought he would be upset, but I was wrong,” Hood said. “He told me, ‘I am not worried, because the warden will just come and shoot me in the head’, which is clearly not based in reality.”
The 46-year-old doesn’t comprehend what will happen to him in the execution chamber, his spiritual advisor said(Paul Harris/Getty Images)
According to Hood, Howard has mistaken him for his attorney, despite him donning a clerical collar.
The spiritual advisor also claims that when asked to discuss the 2000 murder, Howard states that his victim ‘reached out and took the bullet from the gun, and put it in herself’.
Hood insists that Howard does not comprehend what is going to happen to him in the execution chamber, suggesting that the inmate believes the drugs administered during the lethal injection are similar to a recreational high.
“He really has no idea it will end his life,” he went on.
“My worst fear is going into the chamber with him today, and him telling me he doesn’t know what’s going on.”
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