Blaine Milam, 35, was given a lethal injection after being sentenced to death for the murder of 13-month-old Amora Carson at his trailer in Rusk County in East Texas in 2008
A death row inmate who tortured his fiancée’s baby daughter to death during an “exorcism” has been executed. Blaine Milam, 35, was given a lethal injection after being sentenced to death for the murder of 13-month-old Amora Carson in East Texas in 2008.
Milam, whose execution was twice delayed previously, said: “I would like to give a special thanks to all of you for showing me kindness, compassion, empathy, love and support and believing in me.” before he was put to his death at the Texas State Penitentiary at Huntsville.
He continued, “thank you for everything that y’all have done. I would also like to thank the directors of chaplaincy of TDCJ for opening up the faith base program on death row and allowed me to be accepted into it to find Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior.
“And if any of you would like to see me again, I implore all of you no matter who you are to accept Jesus Christ as you Lord and Savior and we will meet again. I love you all, bring me home Jesus.”
Milam’s last meal consisted of a cheeseburger, oven-fried potatoes, green beans, pinto beans, sliced bread, scrambled eggs, country gravy, a sausage patty, pears, biscuits, tea and water.
Prosecutors said Milam savagely beat the girl with a hammer and also bit, strangled and mutilated her during a horror 30 hour ordeal, which left her with multiple skull fractures, broken arms, legs, ribs, numerous bite marks and signs of sexual assault.
He protested his innocence and blamed the tot’s mum Jesseca Carson for the killing. He alleged she was the one who claimed the girl was possessed by a demon.
Carson was tried separately from and was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole after being convicted of capital murder for helping Milam. Both were 18 at the time.
Cops were called to their home in Texas in December 2008, where officers made the grim discovery of Amora’s body. The pair initially gave police different reasons for the toddler’s death.
They claimed they had left the home and found her injured, that she had eaten insulation and later said they had performed an exorcism on the child.
Milam’s attorneys asked the US Supreme Court to stop his execution and argued his conviction was based in part on “now-discredited” bite mark evidence as well as other unreliable DNA evidence.
His lawyers also argued he is intellectually disabled and therefore ineligible for execution as executing intellectually disabled inmates is unconstitutional.
In their petition to the Supreme Court, Milam’s lawyers alleged Carson had experienced religious delusions and suffered from a neurological visual-perception disorder that caused her to see malevolent-seeming distortions in her daughter’s face and attack her.
They said: “It was Carson who caused her daughter’s death. There is no credible evidence that Milam played any role in it.”
But while Milam received two stays on his execution in 2019 and 2021 to have appeals heard, they eventually failed as he was ruled mentally fit for execution. And the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles unanimously declined to grant Milam clemency on Tuesday.
Milam’s execution was the fifth in Texas this year, the same number of executions as 2024.
A second execution was also due to be held tonight in Alabama. Geoffrey West, 50, will be executed by a new method of nitrogen gas. He was convicted of the 1997 murder of Margaret Parrish Berry during the robbery of the gas station.
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