Texas Appeals Court Denies Stay in Jamaal Howard Case

Texas’ highest criminal appeals court denied Jamaal Howard’s request for a stay on Wednesday, leaving his scheduled execution that evening in place as his lawyers sought a 30-day delay from Gov. Greg Abbott. The reports do not establish whether the execution ultimately occurred or whether Abbott or the U.S. Supreme Court intervened. Howard, 46, was scheduled to receive a lethal injection of pentobarbital at about 6 p.m. Central time. His lawyers asked Abbott to delay the execution while they sought information from the Texas Department of Criminal Justice about the drug planned for use and how it had been stored. The department had asked the Texas attorney general whether it was required to disclose the information, according to the lawyers. No decision on that disclosure question is reported. The request came after Christa Pike survived two doses of lethal-injection drugs during an attempted execution in Tennessee on September 30. Pike’s lawyers said she was conscious and speaking while receiving hospital care. The supplied reports do not include independent medical findings about her condition or establish what caused the attempt to fail.