Jamaal Howard’s spiritual advisor says the Texas death row inmate responded to news of Christa Pike’s botched execution with a chillingly detached remark.
Dr. Jeff Hood, who ministers to Howard, 46, said last week that he broke the news about Pike’s failed lethal injection in Tennessee. Howard is scheduled to die by the same drug, pentobarbital, at approximately 6 p.m. Central Time on Tuesday at a Texas prison facility. Hood said he expected his client to show fear or distress upon learning another inmate had survived two doses.
“I told Jamaal last week about what happened to Christa. That the drugs didn’t work and she was now in hospital,” Hood said. “I thought he would be upset, but I was wrong. He told me, ‘I am not worried, because the warden will just come and shoot me in the head’, which is clearly not based in reality.”
Hood has repeatedly stated that Howard is intellectually disabled and fundamentally does not comprehend his impending death. The spiritual advisor said Howard mistakes him for his attorney and no longer recognizes people he has known for years. According to Hood, Howard believes discussions about lethal injection drugs involve recreational substances rather than execution chemicals.
“When you talk about the lethal injection drugs,” Hood said, “He thinks you are talking about drugs that would get you high or something.”
The advisor added: “He really has no idea it will end his life. My worst fear is going into the chamber with him today, and him telling me he doesn’t know what’s going on.”
Howard was convicted of the 2000 murder of Vicky Swartout, a petrol station worker. Prosecutors said Howard, then 20, stole his grandfather’s gun and shot Swartout during the crime. His family and Hood have maintained that Howard himself suffered a gunshot to the head, which they claim contributed to his cognitive impairments.
Despite these assertions, prosecutors pursued and secured a death sentence. Howard’s case now marks the first execution scheduled since Pike, 50, became the first person known to survive two doses of lethal injection during a failed procedure in Tennessee last week.
Pike’s attorneys confirmed Monday that she had regained consciousness and was able to speak following the botched execution. In an emailed statement to The Tennessean, lawyers Randy Spivey and Kelly Gleason wrote: “Against all odds, Christa Pike is conscious, speaking, and continues to receive critical medical care. Despite the severe damage she endured to her arms, she is still handcuffed and shackled to the bed. Her recovery is medically unprecedented. Her prognosis remains unclear but, at a minimum, we expect a long recovery.”
Pike was sentenced to death for her role in the 1995 killing of Colleen Slemmer, a fellow Job Corps student in Knoxville. Then 18, Pike and an accomplice lured Slemmer to a remote spot, where Pike beat her with a asphalt chunk and a box cutter before a cinderblock was used to crush her skull. Pike kept a piece of Slemmer’s skull as a souvenir. May Martinez, mother of Colleen Slemmer, told outlets she had a feeling Pike would “survive the execution attempt.”
The Tennessee Department of Correction now faces costs for Pike’s hospital care as she remains under guard with her arms severely damaged from repeated IV insertion attempts during the failed procedure.
Howard’s execution proceeds as Texas employs the same pentobarbital protocol that failed in Tennessee, raising questions about whether similar complications could arise.