A Texas man, Blaine Milam, is scheduled to be executed by lethal injection on Thursday, September 25, at the state penitentiary in Huntsville, Alabama. This execution comes sixteen years after he was found guilty of the brutal murder of 13-month-old Amora Carson at his Rusk County trailer in East Texas in December 2008. Milam, now 35, has maintained his innocence, claiming the child’s death resulted from an “exorcism” to expel a demon from her body.

Prosecutors described Amora’s final hours as involving "unspeakable violence over the course of 30 hours." They alleged Milam beat the infant with a hammer, in addition to biting, strangling, and mutilating her body. A forensic pathologist who conducted the autopsy revealed that the child suffered multiple skull fractures, broken arms, legs, and ribs, alongside numerous bite marks. Due to the extensive nature of the injuries, the pathologist was unable to pinpoint a single cause of death during the trial.

Milam has consistently blamed his then-girlfriend, Jesseca Carson, 35, for Amora’s death, asserting that she was the one who believed the girl was possessed. Carson, who was also 18 at the time of the crime, was tried separately and convicted of capital murder for her role in the killing, receiving a sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole.

Milam’s legal team has made several attempts to halt his execution. They previously petitioned the U.S. Supreme Court, arguing that his conviction was partly based on "now-discredited" bite mark evidence and other unreliable DNA findings. His attorneys also contended that Milam is intellectually disabled, which would disqualify him from execution. In a separate petition to the Supreme Court, his lawyers claimed Jesseca Carson experienced religious delusions and suffered from a neurological visual-perception disorder that led her to believe Amora was possessed, stating, "It was Carson who caused her daughter’s death. There is no credible evidence that Milam played any role in it."

Despite these efforts, Milam’s appeals have been repeatedly denied. Past attempts to delay his execution in 2019 and 2021 for court reviews of his claims were ultimately unsuccessful. The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals concluded that the execution should proceed, and the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles subsequently denied his request for clemency.