Texas Carries Out First U.S. Execution Since Botched Lethal Injection
Jamaal Howard became the first federal execution since Ohio's botched procedure in 2014, raising new questions about capital punishment protocols.
Texas carried out the first U.S. execution since the botched lethal injection in Ohio three years ago, putting Jamaal Howard to death after the Supreme Court declined to intervene.
Howard's case drew national attention after his legal team argued that the state's three-drug protocol could cause unnecessary suffering. The Supreme Court's refusal to stay the execution late Tuesday cleared the way for the procedure to proceed at the state penitentiary in Huntsville.
The execution marked the first use of the state's updated protocol, which includes midazolam as the first drug in the sequence. Critics have raised concerns about midazolam after a 2014 Ohio execution that took nearly 30 minutes, during which an inmate reportedly gasped and writhed on the gurney.
Texas has carried out more than 600 executions since 1976, more than any other state. The Howard case has reignited debate over whether the federal government should resume its own executions, which remain on hold.
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