Texas executes man via lethal injection

Texas authorities carried out the first successful execution in the United States following recent failures in Tennessee. A 46-year-old man was executed via a dose of pentobarbital for a 2000 robbery-homicide. Before the procedure, the man reportedly apologized to the relatives of the victim. He ceased movement approximately 30 seconds after the injection and was pronounced dead after 19 minutes.

Defense attorneys attempted to halt the execution by citing the prisoner's mental disability and referencing the recent failure of the same drug in Tennessee. In that instance, Christy Pike survived two lethal injections and remains hospitalized. While Tennessee has suspended all executions until the end of the year, Texas has carried out six executions this year and plans two more before year-end.