Execution Report: Jamaal Howard

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The jury found Jamaal guilty of capital murder in April 2001 and sentenced him to death. The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals affirmed the conviction and sentence in October 2004. All of his subsequent appeals in state and federal court were denied.

On 30 September, convicted killer Christa Pike survived two doses of pentobarbital, the same chemical Texas uses in its lethal injections, when the state of Tennessee attempted to execute her. Howard's attorneys tried to halt his execution over concerns that the same mistake could happen with him. They also pressed their long-held and well-adjudicated claim that he was intellectually disabled and thus ineligible to be executed under the Eighth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. The U.S. Supreme Court declined on Wednesday afternoon to stop his execution.

Some members of Howard's victim's family watched his execution from a viewing room adjacent to the death chamber. "I wish that you accept my apology and I wish for your forgiveness," Howard said to them in his last statement. "I'm sorry for what happened. I wish you can learn to forgive me one of these days."

Howard then thanked his friends and family and said that he loved them. He said he was "in a good state of mind to find peace and the Lord, so I thank y'all." He concluded with, "Hey, enjoy life, and peace to y'all." The lethal injection was then started. He was pronounced dead at 8:03 p.m.

Howard's sister was among those who attended on his behalf. Watching from another viewing room, she became distraught and exclaimed, "Get me out of here" several times. She was escorted from the room by corrections officers.

By David Carson. Posted on 8 October 2026.
Sources: Texas Department of Criminal Justice, court documents, Associated Press.