A Texas man is facing execution on Thursday for murdering his girlfriend’s 13-month-old daughter during what prosecutors called a brutal, 30-hour “exorcism.”
Blaine Milam, 35, was convicted in the murder of Amora Carson in December 2008 when he attempted to expel a demon from the child’s body in his trailer located in Rusk County, east of Dallas, according to The Associated Press.
Prosecutors said Milam savagely beat the toddler with a hammer, and strangled, bit and mutilated her.
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“Amora was subjected to unspeakable violence over the course of 30 hours,” prosecutors wrote in court filings, remarking the child suffered skull fractures, broken bones and dozens of bite marks.
Milam has made claims of innocence throughout the years since his conviction and has had appeals denied.
He has made statements saying that his then-girlfriend, Jesseca Carson, was responsible, alleging she insisted the child was possessed by a demon and that he only followed her lead.
Carson was convicted of capital murder and sentenced to life in prison without parole.
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Milam’s attorneys argued that he should be spared, claiming unreliable bite-mark evidence and questions about his intellectual disability.
His execution was previously set for 2019 and 2021, but was delayed while courts reviewed the claims.
The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals concluded that the sentence should proceed, and the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles denied his claim for clemency.
The Associated Press reported that the trial was moved south to Montgomery County over 140 miles away because of intense publicity surrounding the case.
Texas is currently the nation’s leading death penalty state.
