With his execution approaching, Jamaal Howard asked a grieving family for forgiveness. The Texas prisoner faced death for killing gas station worker Vicky Swartout, after his lawyers failed to stop the execution. As the final moments arrived, he spoke of faith and peace, leaving an apology that could not undo the killing and a plea for the family’s forg… Continues…Jamaal Howard was executed on October 7 at Texas’ Huntsville Unit for the 2000 murder of Vicky Swartout during a robbery at a Chevron station in Silsbee. He was 20 when the killing occurred. His attorneys unsuccessfully sought to halt the execution, arguing that he had an intellectual disability and a history of mental illness, while challenging his competency to be executed. After receiving pentobarbital, he was pronounced dead at 8:03 p.m.
Haunting final words of first death row inmate executed since Christa Pike’s botched execution
