When Jamaal Howard was told what happened to Christa Pike, it did ‘not really register’.
But the 46-year-old could be facing the same fate. He is the next person to be executed in the US after Pike, 50, was left on a ventilator after two failed lethal injection attempts.
Miraculously, according to Pike’s lawyer, she is now ‘conscious, speaking and continues to receive medical care’.
Howard’s execution is scheduled for 6pm Central Time in Texas – midnight in the UK.
Dr Jeff Hood, Howard’s spiritual advisor, told : ‘I told Jamaal last week about what happened to Christa. That the drugs didn’t work and she was now in hospital.
‘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.’
Howard has an IQ of 65, less than the 70 needed to be declared intellectually disabled. But prosecutors have pushed for him to be sentenced to death.
He was found guilty of murdering petrol station worker Vicky Swartout in May 2000. Aged 20, he had stolen his granddad’s gun before firing at Vicky.
Police say he was remorseless, and stole a carton of cigarettes and less than £100 as Vicky lay dying beneath him. He was put on Death Row in April 2001.
His family, alongside Dr Jeff, argue Howard was shot in the head. He still refers to his traumatic brain injury as just ‘holes in his head’.
He fails to recognise people he has known for years, even mistaking Dr Jeff – wearing his clerical collar – for his attorney.
And when asking him about the murder he committed, he insists Vicky ‘reached out and took the bullet from the gun, and put it in herself’.
‘When you talk about the lethal injection drugs, he thinks you are talking about drugs that would get you high or something,’ Dr Jeff said. ‘He really has no idea it will end his life.’
Dr Jeff added: ‘My worst fear is going into the chamber with him today, and him telling me he doesn’t know what’s going on.’
It is not known what caused Pike’s lethal injections to fail. Her arms were left burned and blistered after the executioner struggled to find a vein.
Tennessee authorities have not confirmed whether they will try and execute her again if she recovers.
She was set to become the first woman executed in Tennessee in 200 years, after she was sentenced to death for the the 1995 murder of 19-year-old Colleen Slemmer.
Howard’s loved-ones have found it frustrating that his case has failed to garner traction while Pike’s has dominated the news cycle.
Dr Jeff said: ‘It feels like a white woman is inherently more worthy of coverage and engagement from activists. Jamaal is the complete opposite. He is an intellectually disabled person of colour.
‘It seems like the wider movement against the death penalty has throwaway cases, that they let happen. Jamaal can’t advocate for himself, so this has been one of them.’
Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@metro.co.uk.
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