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A Texas antheral was executed Thursday (September 25, 2025) for sidesplitting his girlfriend’s 13-month-old girl successful a torturous ordeal the mates said was portion of an “exorcism” to expel a demon from the child’s body.
Blaine Milam, 35, was pronounced dormant astatine 6:40 p.m. pursuing a lethal injection astatine the authorities penitentiary successful Huntsville. He was condemned for the December 2008 decease of Amora Carson astatine his trailer successful Rusk County successful East Texas.
In a last statement, Milam thanked supporters arsenic good arsenic the situation chaplaincy for opening its faith-based programs to decease enactment inmates.
“If immoderate of you would similar to spot maine again, I implore each of you nary substance who you are to judge Jesus Christ arsenic your Lord and Savior and we volition conscionable again,” helium said from the decease enclosure gurney. “I emotion you all. Bring maine home, Jesus.”
As the lethal dose of sedative pentobarbital began flowing into his close manus and near arm, astatine 6:19 p.m. CDT, Milam grunted and gasped once, past began snoring quietly. After astir 2 minutes, each sounds and question stopped. Minutes later, helium was declared dead.
It was 1 of 2 executions carried retired Thursday (September 25, 2025) evening successful the U.S. Geoffrey West was enactment to decease successful Alabama with nitrogen state for fatally shooting a state presumption worker during a 1997 robbery. The 2 executions brought the year’s full to 33 decease sentences carried retired nationwide.
Milam had blamed then-girlfriend Jesseca Carson for the sidesplitting and alleged she was the 1 who claimed the miss was possessed by a demon. She was tried separately from Milam and sentenced to beingness successful situation without the anticipation of parole aft being convicted of superior execution for helping Milam. Both were 18 astatine the time.
Prosecutors said Milam savagely bushed the miss and besides bit, strangled, and mutilated her implicit a play of 30 hours. Court documents amusement a tube wrench was among the grounds that tied Milam to the slaying.
A forensic pathologist who performed an autopsy recovered the kid had aggregate skull fractures on with breached arms, legs, ribs and galore wound marks. The pathologist testified astatine proceedings that helium could not find a circumstantial origin of decease due to the fact that the miss had truthful galore perchance fatal injuries.
Rusk County District Attorney Micheal Jimerson, who tried the lawsuit on with the Texas Attorney General’s Office, told The Associated Press successful 2019 that authorities initially treated Milam and Carson arsenic grieving parents.
But Carson aboriginal told investigators Milam told her Amora was “possessed by a demon” due to the fact that “God was bushed of her lying to Milam,” according to tribunal records.
Jimerson said astatine the clip helium inactive couldn’t pinpoint a motive, believing the exorcism assertion was conscionable a mode for Milam and Carson to screen up their crime.
The authoritative witnessed the execution.
“We volition ne'er cognize what Amora would person contributed to our world,” Jimerson said Thursday (September 25, 2025) evening aft it was over. “Answering the telephone for justness for the astir helpless is simply a measurement of a civilized people.”
Among different observers was the child’s grandfather, Richard Mutina. He declined to talk with reporters aft the execution.
Milam was the 5th idiosyncratic enactment to decease this twelvemonth successful Texas, historically the nation’s busiest superior punishment state. Florida leads the federation this twelvemonth with a grounds 12 executions conducted to day successful 2025 with 2 much scheduled successful the authorities by mid-October.
The execution was carried retired hours aft the U.S. Supreme Court rejected Milam’s last appeals.
Rebuffed antecedently by authorities and national appeals courts, Milam’s attorneys had asked the Supreme Court to artifact the execution, arguing his condemnation was based successful portion connected “now-discredited” wound people grounds and different unreliable DNA evidence. They besides argued helium was intellectually disabled and frankincense ineligible for execution.
The Texas Attorney General’s Office has said Milam’s claims of an intelligence disablement had been rejected antecedently by the courts. The lawyer general’s bureau besides said successful tribunal documents that adjacent if bitemark and DNA grounds were excluded, determination was different grounds pointing to his guilt, including his efforts to fell grounds and a confession helium made to a caregiver aft his arrest.
The usage of wound people grounds has been called into question successful caller years, with a 2016 study by the President’s Council of Advisors connected Science and Technology saying bitemark investigation “is intelligibly scientifically unreliable astatine present.”
On Tuesday (September 23, 2025), the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles had denied Milam’s petition to commute his decease condemnation to a lesser penalty. Milam’s antecedently had executions dates successful 2019 and 2021 that were stayed.
