Huntsville, Texas – About a week after the botched execution of Christa Pike, a man on death row in Texas has been executed using the same drug.

Convicted robber Jamaal Howard was administered the drug pentobarbital, which paralyzes breathing, at the Huntsville State Prison on Wednesday evening, according to authorities.

Howard's lawyers, citing the Pike case, had requested a last‑minute stay.

The 46‑year‑old Howard was sentenced to death, as reported by TMZ, for robbing a supermarket in 2000 and fatally shooting employee Vickie Lee Sartout.

He stole $114 and a pack of cigarettes. Before his execution, he asked for forgiveness, saying he was sorry for what had happened.

The Christa Pike case has reignited the death‑penalty debate in the US.

The convicted murderer was slated to be put to death in Tennessee at the end of September, which would have made her the first woman executed in the state in more than 200 years.

Although the 50‑year‑old survived two pentobarbital lethal injections and later regained consciousness, her lawyers are demanding that the death sentence be converted to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole.

This year, 30 death sentences have been carried out in the US so far. Last year, 47 people were executed – the highest number since 2009.