Texas man scheduled for execution for 2000 convenience store clerk murder

A Texas man, Jamaal Howard, 46, is scheduled to be executed by lethal injection on Wednesday for the 2000 murder of convenience store clerk Vickie Swartout, 42. Howard was found guilty of capital murder after he fatally shot Swartout once in the chest during a robbery at a store in Silsbee, Texas, approximately 100 miles northeast of Houston. He reportedly took $114 and a carton of cigarettes from the store. This execution would mark the 30th in the United States this year. Texas has executed six individuals so far in 2026, with two more executions planned following Howard's. Evidence presented at trial included surveillance footage showing Howard committing the crime. His attorneys claim he is intellectually disabled and have sought to halt the execution, but the state argues he has not provided sufficient evidence to support this claim. Howard has a pending appeal to the US Supreme Court, which previously ruled in 2002 that executing intellectually disabled individuals is unconstitutional, although states have discretion in determining intellectual disability. Florida has conducted the most executions this year, totaling 16. Most states that permit executions primarily use lethal injection as the method.