STORY: "Man on death row for 2008 murder of child in Rusk County granted stay of execution, by Reporter Courtney Stern, published by The Longview News-Journal on January 15, 2020. Thanks to Dr. Michael Bowers of CSIDDS - Forensics and law in focus - for bringing this story to our attention."
GIST: "A man on death row convicted in the 2008 death of his girlfriend’s child in Rusk County has been granted a second stay of execution, the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals announced Friday.
Blaine Keith Milam, 31, was sentenced to death for the December 2008 killing of 13-month-old Amora Bain Carson. His execution had been scheduled for Thursday.
Milam also was granted a stay in January 2019, just one day before his execution.
His attorney filed a request for a stay of execution Jan. 11, and the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals granted the stay and remanded the case to trial court. An intellectual disability hearing has been ordered.
Milam’s girlfriend at the time and Amora’s mother, Jesseca Carson, is serving life in prison for the crime.
At 10:37 a.m. on Dec. 2, 2008, Milam called 911 from his trailer outside of Tatum, according to court documents.
“My name is Blaine Milam, and my daughter, I just found her dead,” Milam said on the 911 call.
Later, he told law enforcement that Amora was not his daughter but Jesseca’s, his fiance. Milam said he was “raising that baby,” according to court documents.
Milam and Carson initially told police that they left the child unattended in the trailer, stating that someone must have broken in and attacked her.
According to evidence presented in Carson’s trial, in addition to 24 bite marks on Amora’s body, the child had head trauma, a torn liver, genitalia trauma, several fractured bones and bruises.
Carson later admitted that “she was present when (Milam) performed an exorcism of the demons possessing the body of the child.”
She also told police that after Milam killed the girl, they drove to Henderson to pawn items to pay for another exorcism but decided to use some of the money to buy cigarettes instead.
Milam and Carson both were 18 at the time of the child’s death.
During the investigation, authorities at the time alleged that the couple killed the child with a hammer.
In a 2019 appeal, Milam and his attorney disputed the bite mark testimony. That evidence had proved key in his trial as the prosecution attributed several bite marks to Milam.
His attorneys also claimed he was not eligible for execution because he is intellectually disabled."
The entire story can be read at:
