Texas is moving forward with two separate executions this year. On Wednesday, Oct. 7, 2026, Jamaal Howard is scheduled for lethal injection. He was convicted for killing a clerk during a 2000 robbery. At the same time, officials set a date for Nidal Hasan. He will face a firing squad on December 3 at 2 p.m. EST.
Howard, 46, killed Vickie Swartout, 42, in Silsbee. She was shot once in the chest. The store surveillance video showed him pulling the trigger. He took $114 and a carton of cigarettes. His lawyers say he is intellectually disabled. The state says he has not proven that claim.
Hasan killed 13 people at Fort Hood in 2009. He also wounded 32 others. He was a former Army major and psychiatrist. He will be the first service member executed since 1961. The method is a firing squad, not lethal injection.
Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell announced the details for Hasan. He said President Donald Trump approved the method. War Secretary Pete Hegseth made the recommendation. Parnell posted on X that the time and place are set.
“Judgement day for Hasan has finally come,” Parnell wrote, according to the New York Post. He noted Hasan was shouting during the attack. Acting Army Secretary Adam Telle confirmed the date in a memo. The execution will happen at Fort Hood, the very base where the shooting occurred.
Hasan informed a military judge that he was protecting the leadership of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, the Taliban. He viewed soldiers as going against the Islamic Empire. In 2013, a military court sentenced him to death. His final appeal to remove the sentence failed in early 2025.
So far this year, Florida has executed 16 individuals. Texas has executed six people this year. Two more are scheduled after Howard. This marks the first US execution since Tennessee’s failed attempt last week.
Howard has an appeal pending to the US Supreme Court. The court barred executing intellectually disabled people in 2002. But states have some say in how they decide such claims. Intellectually disabled people were prohibited from execution by the Supreme Court in 2002. States retain some discretion regarding how they assess such disabilities.
Hasan was tried on 13 counts of murder. He killed 13 people at the base. He is imprisoned at Fort Leavenworth in Kansas. The Army Secretary will set the final time and place. The date is fixed for December 3.
The clock is ticking for both men. Howard faces a lethal dose of pentobarbital next week. Hasan faces a firing squad in December. No stay of execution has been granted yet. The Supreme Court appeal for Howard remains open. The military court process for Hasan is complete.
These events show the legal system moving forward. One case involves a civilian crime in a small town. The other involves a terrorist attack on a military base. Both men are set to die by the state. The dates are clear and the methods are chosen.
In early 2025, Hasan’s final appeal to vacate his death sentence failed. That decision leaves the December date standing. Howard’s case waits on the high court. The state of Texas has set the course for Wednesday. The Army has set the course for December.
