Texas set to execute man convicted of killing 13-month-old girl on Thursday

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Death row inmate Blaine Milam is scheduled to be executed Thursday evening for the 2008 killing of his then-fiancée’s 13-month-old daughter after his two previous execution dates were delayed.

In 2008, Milam and the girl’s mother, Jesseca Carson, called police to their home near Tatum, where authorities found 13-month-old Amora Carson dead, with human bite marks on her body and signs of physical and sexual assault, according to court documents. The two initially gave police different reasons for the toddler’s death, including that they had left the home and found her injured, that she had eaten insulation and later that they had performed an exorcism on the child.

Milam’s appeals in the years since his conviction have largely focused on his potential exemption from the death penalty due to intellectual disability and since-discredited bite-mark science used during his trial. Executing intellectually disabled inmates is unconstitutional, and the discreditation of bite-mark science has led to at least one overturned conviction in Texas under the state’s “junk science” law.

Milam received two stays on his execution in 2019 and 2021 to have appeals heard, but all eventually failed as he was ruled mentally fit for execution. The Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles unanimously declined to grant Milam clemency on Tuesday.

The inmate currently has an application for a stay of execution pending in the Supreme Court. It claims “demonstrably unreliable and prejudicial forensic evidence” was used because prosecutors could not justify a motive for Milam to have killed the toddler, as well as new understanding of bite-mark science and updates to DNA testimony.

If Milam is put to death, it will be the fifth execution in Texas this year, the same number of executions as 2024. In March, David Wood’s execution was halted two days before he was scheduled to be put to death. The Texas Criminal Court of Appeals granted him a stay, and subsequently remanded Wood’s case back to trial court, where it awaits further action.

The only other execution currently scheduled for the remainder of the year is that of Robert Roberson, whose innocence in the death of his 2-year-old daughter, Nikki, has long been maintained not only by him but by a number of state lawmakers. On Wednesday, Roberson’s lawyer said the 58-year-old inmate would not seek clemency, but rather focus on obtaining a new trial.

In August, Roberson filed a new appeal that provided new evidence the petition claimed was only made available because of intervention by Rep. Lacey Hull, R-Houston. The appeal alleges that the Anderson County Judiciary acted unconstitutionally multiple times in the opening days of Roberson’s case, including improperly informing the hospital caring for Nikki that her grandparents had the right to remove her from life support.

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