Advice from an Executioner After a Botched Execution

On Sept. 30, Tennessee gave Christa Pike two doses of pentobarbital. She survived and was taken by ambulance to a hospital. By Tuesday her attorneys said she was conscious, speaking, and receiving critical medical care; her prognosis remains unclear, they expect a long recovery at minimum, and she is still handcuffed and shackled despite severe damage to her arms. On Oct. 7, Texas executed Jamaal Howard, 46, in Huntsville, pronounced dead at 8:03 p.m. He became the 30th U.S. execution of 2026 and Texas's sixth. Howard, 20 at the time, was convicted of killing Vickie Swartout, 42, in a 2000 Silsbee robbery for $114 and cigarettes, caught on video. His lawyers sought stays citing a full-scale IQ of 74 and pentobarbital risks linked to Pike. Courts and the Supreme Court denied his appeals the same day. He apologized to the victim's family. A spokesperson said he made small talk on the 45-mile drive to the chamber. Frank Thompson, who oversaw Oregon's two executions in 1996 and 1997, said the case raises whether the death penalty makes sense. Contested: none found in record. Pike's long-term outlook and what went wrong remain unresolved. Gov. Bill Lee postponed Tennessee's last execution of the year.