Journalism of Courage
Blaine Milam was 18 when authorities in Texas, US, accused him of committing one of the most brutal child murders the state had ever seen. Prosecutors said Milam and his girlfriend, Jesseca Carson, tortured her 13-month-old daughter during what they claimed was an “exorcism” meant to drive out a demon.
Now, 16 years later, Milam is facing execution. The 35-year-old is scheduled to die by lethal injection Thursday evening at the state penitentiary in Huntsville for the December 2008 killing of baby Amora Carson at his trailer in Rusk County, East Texas.
Prosecutors said Milam tortured the girl over 30 hours, beating her with a hammer, biting, strangling, and mutilating her. As per a report by Associated Press, a forensic pathologist who examined Amora’s body said she had suffered multiple skull fractures, broken arms, legs and ribs, strangulation marks, and dozens of bite wounds.
The autopsy found so many potentially fatal injuries that the doctor could not determine a single cause of death.
Milam, who has always maintained his innocence, blamed then-girlfriend Jesseca Carson for the killing. She was tried separately, convicted of capital murder, and sentenced to life without parole. Both were 18 at the time.
In recent appeals, Milam’s lawyers have asked the US Supreme Court to halt the execution, arguing his conviction relied on “now-discredited” bite-mark evidence, questionable DNA analysis, and ignored signs of his intellectual disability — factors that would make him ineligible for execution under federal law. They also claimed Carson suffered from delusions and a visual-perception disorder that led her to see “malevolent distortions” in her daughter’s face.
The Texas Attorney General’s Office countered that courts have repeatedly rejected Milam’s claims and said DNA evidence “continues to forensically tie him to Amora’s body.” Even without the contested bite-mark evidence, prosecutors said, other proof pointed to his guilt, including his attempts to hide evidence and a confession to a nurse after his arrest.
The Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles denied Milam’s request for clemency on Tuesday. His previous execution dates in 2019 and 2021 were stayed. If carried out, Milam’s execution would be the fifth in Texas this year and the 33rd nationwide in 2025.
At nearly the same hour, Alabama planned to execute Geoffrey West, convicted of fatally shooting a gas station worker during a 1997 robbery. Florida leads the nation with 12 executions so far this year, with two more scheduled by mid-October.
(With Inputs from Associated Press)
