{"id":453435,"date":"2026-10-01T18:30:09","date_gmt":"2026-10-01T18:30:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/453435\/"},"modified":"2026-10-01T18:30:09","modified_gmt":"2026-10-01T18:30:09","slug":"tennessee-halts-executions-after-botched-lethal-injection-could-texas-follow","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/453435\/","title":{"rendered":"Tennessee halts executions after botched lethal injection. Could Texas follow?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Tennessee will halt executions for the remainder of 2026 following the failed lethal injection<\/a> of a female inmate on death row on Wednesday. The decision is raising a question in Texas: Could Gov. Greg Abbott take a similar step before the state’s next scheduled execution?<\/p>\n

Christa Pike, a Tennessee inmate convicted of murdering her classmate in 1995, survived two separate doses of lethal injection administered Wednesday night. The failed injections led Lee to order a “comprehensive third-party review,” of the incident, as well as a halting of the four executions set to be held in the state in 2026.<\/p>\n

The move puts Tennessee at the center of the latest debate over the death penalty-and draws attention to Texas, where 46-year-old Jamaal Howard is scheduled to be executed Oct. 7 using pentobarbital, the same drug used in Pike’s failed execution.<\/p>\n

Howard’s execution could still be delayed through the courts or executive action.<\/p>\n

Help from Gov. Abbott?<\/p>\n

The Texas Constitution gives the governor <\/a>the power to grant a one-time reprieve of up to 30 days in a death penalty case. A longer delay would require action by the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles, which can recommend a commutation or reprieve to the governor.<\/p>\n

Abbott has not indicated that he plans to intervene in Howard’s case as of Thursday.<\/p>\n

Chron could not reach Abbott’s office for comment. Abbott has allowed more than 50 executions to proceed in Texas since 2015, and he has commuted just one death sentence in his time as Governor.<\/p>\n

\"Texas<\/p>\n

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott has halted just one execution in his time in office dating back to 2015. (Alex Wong\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n

Delay through Supreme Court<\/p>\n

Pike briefly appeared to have her execution halted before the failed attempt, when the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals voted to issue an emergency stay of execution on Wednesday morning. Tennessee Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti challenged the ruling, and the U.S. Supreme Court ultimately vacated the stay in a 6-3 decision.<\/p>\n

Howard’s attorneys are pursuing a separate legal path.<\/p>\n

An appeal on his behalf was filed Tuesday in the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals, in which Howard’s team seeks a stay of execution due to Howard’s intellectual disability. That court’s ruling will then likely be challenged by Howard’s legal team or the State of Texas, who will bring the case to the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. A subsequent challenge will likely reach the Supreme Court, which can then either grant Howard a stay or keep his execution scheduled.<\/p>\n

The courts could intervene and delay the execution, or allow the Oct. 7 execution date to remain in place.<\/p>\n

Howard’s representation declined to comment on their client’s case.<\/p>\n

Last chance for others<\/p>\n

Howard’s future will be determined by either Abbott or the courts. The other two inmates on Texas’ death row only have Gov. Abbott to rely on before their scheduled executions in November. Both John Allen Rubio and Reinaldo Dennes had execution appeals denied in the 5th Circuit Court and the Supreme Court, with their executions now set for Nov. 12 and Nov. 19, respectively, barring intervention from Gov. Abbott.<\/p>\n

More News<\/p>\n

Politics<\/a> | Houston judge candidate says opponent bailed on scheduled debate<\/a>
Coins<\/a> | Texas lottery winner strikes it rich and reveals first big purchase<\/a>
Nerds<\/a> | PAX Unplugged gaming convention coming to Houston<\/a>
Safety<\/a> | Texas A&M e-scooters and e-bikes could be banned after crashes rise<\/a><\/p>\n

For the latest and best from Chron, sign up for our daily newsletter here.<\/a><\/p>\n

This article originally published at Tennessee halts executions after botched lethal injection. Could Texas follow?<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Tennessee will halt executions for the remainder of 2026 following the failed lethal injection of a female inmate…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":453436,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[392,155769,88274,5759,3135,27,29,28],"class_list":["post-453435","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-texas","tag-greg-abbott","tag-jamaal-howard","tag-lethal-injection","tag-supreme-court","tag-tennessee","tag-texas","tag-texas-headlines","tag-texas-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/453435","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=453435"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/453435\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/453436"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=453435"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=453435"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=453435"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}