Texas Completes Nation’s First Execution Since Christa Pike Survived Lethal Injections

Texas authorities executed a man on Wednesday, the first execution in the nation since Christa Pike survived two lethal injections in Tennessee in late September. Jamaal Howard, 46, was pronounced dead at 8:03 p.m. after receiving a fatal dose of pentobarbital at the state prison in Huntsville. He was convicted of killing Vickie Swartout, 42, during a store robbery in 2000. Howard’s attorneys unsuccessfully sought to block the execution by arguing that he was intellectually disabled and that he faced risks similar to those in Pike’s case because both states use pentobarbital for lethal injections. Asked by the warden if...