US puts inmate to death for first time since botched execution of Christa Pike

A Texas death row inmate has been put to death by lethal injection - despite objections following Christa Pike's botched execution last week. 

Jamaal Howard, 46, is the first inmate to be executed in the US since Pike, 50, survived two doses of lethal injection last Wednesday.

Howard, who was convicted of fatally shooting convenience store clerk Vickie Swartout during a robbery in 2000, was administered with pentobarbital - the same drug used in Pike's attempted execution in Tennessee.

His lawyers filed two requests to stop the execution, arguing to the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals that the drug posed similar risks.

They raised concerns about its quality, claiming the drugs were "degraded" and "far past the original beyond-use dates".

However, the court denied the stay requests without elaboration.

Howard's lawyers had also argued unsuccessfully to the US Supreme Court that his execution should be halted because he was intellectually disabled.

However, the state told the court that Howard's lawyers did not present evidence that would show he meets the requirements for such a claim.

Texas has executed six people so far in 2026, with two more lethal injections scheduled later this year.

You need javascript enabled to view this content

Video 2:07
Enable javascript to share Share
Christa Pike case back in court | Everything we learned

Pike's first words after waking up

On Wednesday, lawyers for Pike, who is believed to be the first person to have survived an execution by lethal injection in the US, said that she had spoken her first words since regaining consciousness in hospital.

They revealed that Pike had said "'where am I?' and 'who are you?'" - adding that she is "angry and confused about everything right now".

Her defence team also said she remains cognitively confused and is unable to move or swallow. They said she had been brain dead as recently as Monday.

At a hearing on Wednesday, a judge granted a motion brought by Pike's legal team that requires the state of Tennessee to preserve relevant evidence from the botched execution.

Pike's lawyers described the ruling as "just a first step of many to preserve and enforce Christy's constitutional rights", while the judge said the case was "unique to say the least".

Her legal team had earlier cited a complaint filed in January that said she had a "history of difficulty with blood draws and needle insertion".

They said that "her veins are so difficult to access" and it was likely that those "physical characteristics would interfere with the proper delivery of the poison".

Dr Joel Zivot, a professor of anaesthesiology and surgery who consulted as an expert for Pike's legal team, said this week that it could take months to determine exactly what her recovery might look like.

It also remains unclear whether Pike's competency can be restored to a level that might enable the state to try again to execute her, Dr Zivot added - although authorities are yet to confirm if they will make another attempt.

On Saturday, state governor Bill Lee said that Frank Strada, commissioner of Tennessee's Department of Correction, had announced he will step down this month while an independent review determines what happened.

More from Sky News:
Planned gun attack on America's largest mall thwarted
Cornell investigation: Surge in calls to sexual assault hotline

You need javascript enabled to view this content

Video 0:32
Enable javascript to share Share
Pike 'angry and confused' after failed execution

Why was Pike on death row?

Pike was set to be the first woman to be executed in Tennessee for more than 200 years, after she and her then-boyfriend, Tadaryl Shipp, were convicted of torturing and killing 19-year-old Colleen Slemmer in 1995.

Prosecutors said Pike, who was 18 at the time, feared she was trying to steal her boyfriend, and lured her to a wooded area.

A pentagram, a star-shaped symbol associated with Satanism, was carved on the victim's body, which, along with other elements of the crime, stoked fears of Satan worship during the so-called "satanic panic" in the country during the 1980s and 1990s.

Shipp, who was 17 when the crime was committed, received a life sentence with the possibility of ​parole.

Pike does not deny the killing, but her supporters have argued the state should consider her age at the time, mental illness and a history of severe sexual abuse, including rape, beginning when she was a child.

Following the killing, Pike was diagnosed with bipolar disorder and post-traumatic stress disorder, her lawyers said.

Her legal team said they are continuing to ask for Pike's sentence to be changed to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

"Christa is a survivor and will take recovery one day at a time," her lawyers said earlier this week.