Texas set to execute man for fatally shooting a convenience store clerk in 2000, tell me about this news today

Texas is scheduled to carry out the execution of 46-year-old Jamaal Howard by lethal injection today, Wednesday, October 7, 2026.

Howard was convicted of capital murder for the 2000 robbery and fatal shooting of 42-year-old convenience store clerk Vickie Swartout in Silsbee, Texas. Howard, who was 20 at the time of the offense, took approximately $114 and a carton of cigarettes after shooting Swartout once in the chest, an event captured on store surveillance cameras.

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His defense attorneys have filed appeals seeking to halt the lethal injection, arguing that Howard has an intellectual disability that makes him ineligible for capital punishment under precedent set by the U.S. Supreme Court. The state has contested those claims, asserting there is insufficient evidence to meet that standard.

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If carried out, Howard’s lethal injection would mark the 7th execution in Texas this year and the 30th nationwide in 2026. It would also be the first execution conducted in the United States since the execution attempt of Christa Pike in Tennessee the previous week.

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