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Tag: Lethal injection

  • Texas man facing execution for fatally beating 13-month-old girl during ‘exorcism’

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    A Texas man faces execution Thursday for killing his girlfriend’s 13-month-old daughter during a torturous ordeal the couple said was part of an “exorcism” to expel a demon from the child’s body.Blaine Milam, 35, was condemned for the December 2008 murder of Amora Carson at his trailer in Rusk County in East Texas.Milam was scheduled to receive a lethal injection Thursday evening at the state penitentiary in Huntsville. At around the same time Milam was to be put to death, authorities in Alabama were planning to execute Geoffrey West for fatally shooting a gas station employee during a 1997 robbery.Milam has claimed he is innocent, blaming then-girlfriend Jesseca Carson for the killing and alleging she was the one who claimed the girl was possessed by a demon. She was tried separately from Milam and sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole after being convicted of capital murder for helping Milam. Both were 18 at the time.Prosecutors said Milam savagely beat the girl with a hammer and also bit, strangled, and mutilated her over a period of 30 hours.A forensic pathologist who performed an autopsy found the child had multiple skull fractures along with broken arms, legs, ribs and numerous bite marks. The pathologist testified at trial that he could not determine a specific cause of death because the girl had so many potentially fatal injuries.Milam’s attorneys have asked the U.S. Supreme Court to stop his execution, arguing his conviction was based in part on “now-discredited” bite mark evidence as well as other unreliable DNA evidence. Milam’s attorneys also argued he is intellectually disabled and therefore ineligible for execution.In their petition to the Supreme Court, Milam’s lawyers alleged Carson had experienced religious delusions and suffered from a neurological visual-perception disorder that caused her to see malevolent-seeming distortions in her daughter’s face, causing her to attack the child.“It was Carson who caused her daughter’s death. There is no credible evidence that Milam played any role in it,” Milam’s lawyers said.State and federal appeals courts have previously turned down efforts by Milam’s attorneys to stay his execution. The Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles on Tuesday denied Milam’s request to commute his death sentence to a lesser penalty. Milam previously had executions dates in 2019 and 2021 that were stayed.The Texas Attorney General’s Office has said Milam’s claims that he is intellectually disabled have been rejected in previous court rulings and a recent review of DNA evidence used at his trial “continues to forensically tie him to Amora’s body.”The attorney general’s office also said in court documents that even if bitemark and DNA evidence were excluded, there was other evidence pointing to his guilt, including his efforts to hide evidence and a confession he made to a nurse after his arrest.Rusk County District Attorney Michael Jimerson, who tried the case along with the Texas Attorney General’s Office, told The Associated Press in 2019 that authorities initially treated Milam and Carson as grieving parents.But Carson later told investigators Milam told her Amora was “possessed by a demon” because “God was tired of her lying to Milam,” according to court records.The use of bite mark evidence has been called into question in recent years, with a 2016 report by the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology saying bitemark analysis “is clearly scientifically unreliable at present.”Jimerson said he still couldn’t pinpoint a motive, believing the exorcism claim was just a way for Milam and Carson to cover up their crime.“It’s … very hard to confront the idea that someone would derive their gratification from the torture of a baby. That is really something that diminishes all of us and it’s just a very, very hard thing to face,” Jimerson had said.If the execution is carried out, Milam would be the fifth person put to death this year in Texas, historically the nation’s busiest capital punishment state. If both of Thursdays executions take place, that would bring this year’s total to 33 death sentences carried out nationwide. Florida leads the nation this year with a record 12 executions conducted so far in 2025 with two more scheduled in the state by mid-October.

    HOUSTON —

    A Texas man faces execution Thursday for killing his girlfriend’s 13-month-old daughter during a torturous ordeal the couple said was part of an “exorcism” to expel a demon from the child’s body.

    Blaine Milam, 35, was condemned for the December 2008 murder of Amora Carson at his trailer in Rusk County in East Texas.

    Milam was scheduled to receive a lethal injection Thursday evening at the state penitentiary in Huntsville. At around the same time Milam was to be put to death, authorities in Alabama were planning to execute Geoffrey West for fatally shooting a gas station employee during a 1997 robbery.

    Milam has claimed he is innocent, blaming then-girlfriend Jesseca Carson for the killing and alleging she was the one who claimed the girl was possessed by a demon. She was tried separately from Milam and sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole after being convicted of capital murder for helping Milam. Both were 18 at the time.

    Prosecutors said Milam savagely beat the girl with a hammer and also bit, strangled, and mutilated her over a period of 30 hours.

    Texas Department of Criminal Justice via AP

    This undated booking photo provided by the Texas Department of Criminal Justice shows Texas death row inmate Blaine Milam.

    A forensic pathologist who performed an autopsy found the child had multiple skull fractures along with broken arms, legs, ribs and numerous bite marks. The pathologist testified at trial that he could not determine a specific cause of death because the girl had so many potentially fatal injuries.

    Milam’s attorneys have asked the U.S. Supreme Court to stop his execution, arguing his conviction was based in part on “now-discredited” bite mark evidence as well as other unreliable DNA evidence. Milam’s attorneys also argued he is intellectually disabled and therefore ineligible for execution.

    In their petition to the Supreme Court, Milam’s lawyers alleged Carson had experienced religious delusions and suffered from a neurological visual-perception disorder that caused her to see malevolent-seeming distortions in her daughter’s face, causing her to attack the child.

    “It was Carson who caused her daughter’s death. There is no credible evidence that Milam played any role in it,” Milam’s lawyers said.

    State and federal appeals courts have previously turned down efforts by Milam’s attorneys to stay his execution. The Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles on Tuesday denied Milam’s request to commute his death sentence to a lesser penalty. Milam previously had executions dates in 2019 and 2021 that were stayed.

    The Texas Attorney General’s Office has said Milam’s claims that he is intellectually disabled have been rejected in previous court rulings and a recent review of DNA evidence used at his trial “continues to forensically tie him to Amora’s body.”

    The attorney general’s office also said in court documents that even if bitemark and DNA evidence were excluded, there was other evidence pointing to his guilt, including his efforts to hide evidence and a confession he made to a nurse after his arrest.

    Rusk County District Attorney Michael Jimerson, who tried the case along with the Texas Attorney General’s Office, told The Associated Press in 2019 that authorities initially treated Milam and Carson as grieving parents.

    But Carson later told investigators Milam told her Amora was “possessed by a demon” because “God was tired of her lying to Milam,” according to court records.

    The use of bite mark evidence has been called into question in recent years, with a 2016 report by the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology saying bitemark analysis “is clearly scientifically unreliable at present.”

    Jimerson said he still couldn’t pinpoint a motive, believing the exorcism claim was just a way for Milam and Carson to cover up their crime.

    “It’s … very hard to confront the idea that someone would derive their gratification from the torture of a baby. That is really something that diminishes all of us and it’s just a very, very hard thing to face,” Jimerson had said.

    If the execution is carried out, Milam would be the fifth person put to death this year in Texas, historically the nation’s busiest capital punishment state. If both of Thursdays executions take place, that would bring this year’s total to 33 death sentences carried out nationwide. Florida leads the nation this year with a record 12 executions conducted so far in 2025 with two more scheduled in the state by mid-October.

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  • Fox News host apologizes for remarks about killing mentally ill homeless people

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    “Fox & Friends” co-host Brian Kilmeade apologized Sunday for remarks he made last week that suggested using involuntary lethal injections to get mentally ill homeless people off the streets.

    Kilmeade’s comments came during a discussion last Wednesday on “Fox & Friends” about the Aug. 22 stabbing death of a 23-year-old Ukrainian refugee, Iryna Zarutska, on a light rail train in Charlotte, N.C.

    Zarutska’s suspected killer, DeCarlos Brown Jr., is a homeless man with a long criminal record and is a paranoid schizophrenic, according to his family.

    The attack on Zarutska was captured on security cameras and circulated widely online. The incident has sparked a national debate on public safety policy and criminal sentencing.

    The topic led “Fox & Friends” co-host Laurence Jones to say that billions of dollars have been spent on programs to care for the homeless and mentally ill but many of those afflicted resist help.

    “A lot of them don’t want to take the programs,” Jones said. “A lot of them don’t want to get the help that is necessary. You can’t give them the choice. Either you take the resources that we’re going to give you, or you decide that you’ve got to be locked up in jail.”

    Kilmeade added: “Or involuntary lethal injection or something — just kill ‘em.”

    A clip of Kilmeade’s remarks started to circulate widely on X on Saturday.

    “I apologize for that extremely callous remark,” Kilmeade said during Sunday’s edition of the morning program. “I am obviously aware that not all mentally ill, homeless people act as the perpetrator did in North Carolina and that so many homeless people deserve our empathy and compassion.”

    Many online commentators pointed out that Kilmeade’s comments evoked the extermination of mentally ill and disabled people that was authorized by Adolf Hitler in 1939. The German chancellor’s euthanasia program killed more than 250,000 people ahead of the Holocaust.

    For now, Kilmeade has avoided the fate of political analyst Matthew Dowd, who lost his contributor role at MSNBC after commenting on the Wednesday shooting death of right-wing political activist Charlie Kirk.

    Dowd told MSNBC anchor Katy Tur that “hateful thoughts lead to hateful words, which then lead to hateful actions.”

    Dowd, once a political strategist for President George W. Bush, described Kirk as a divisive figure “who is constantly sort of pushing this sort of hate speech or sort of aimed at certain groups.”

    The angry reaction on social media was immediate after Dowd’s comments suggested that Kirk’s history of incendiary remarks led to the shooting.

    Rebecca Kutler, president of MSNBC, issued an apology and cut ties with Dowd.

    Dowd also apologized in a post on BlueSky. “I in no way intended to blame Kirk for this horrendous attack,” he said.

    The top executives at MSNBC parent Comcast sent a company-wide memo Friday citing Dowd’s firing and told employees “we need to do better.”

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    Stephen Battaglio

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  • Idaho halts execution by lethal injection after 8 failed attempts to insert IV line

    Idaho halts execution by lethal injection after 8 failed attempts to insert IV line

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    Idaho halted the execution of serial killer Thomas Eugene Creech on Wednesday after medical team members repeatedly failed to find a vein where they could establish an intravenous line to carry out the lethal injection.Creech, 73, has been in prison half a century, convicted of five murders in three states and suspected of several more. He was already serving a life term when he beat a fellow inmate, 22-year-old David Dale Jensen, to death in 1981 — the crime for which he was to be executed.Creech, one of the longest-serving death row inmates in the U.S., was wheeled into the execution chamber at the Idaho Maximum Security Institution on a gurney at 10 a.m.Three medical team members tried eight times to establish an IV, Department of Correction Director Josh Tewalt told a news conference afterward. In some cases, they couldn’t access the vein, and in others they could but had concerns about vein quality. They attempted sites in his arms, legs, hands and feet. At one point, a medical team member left to gather more supplies.The warden announced he was halting the execution at 10:58 a.m.The corrections department said its death warrant for Creech would expire, and that it was considering next steps. While other medical procedures might allow for the execution, the state is mindful of the 8th Amendment’s ban on cruel and unusual punishment, Tewalt said.Creech’s attorneys immediately filed a new motion for a stay in U.S. District Court, saying “the badly botched execution attempt” proves the department’s “inability to carry out a humane and constitutional execution.” The court granted the stay after Idaho confirmed it would not try again to execute him before the death warrant expired; the state will have to obtain another warrant if it wants to carry out the execution.“This is what happens when unknown individuals with unknown training are assigned to carry out an execution,” the Federal Defender Services of Idaho said in a written statement. “This is precisely the kind of mishap we warned the State and the Courts could happen when attempting to execute one of the country’s oldest death-row inmates.”Six Idaho officials, including Attorney General Raul Labrador, and four news media representatives, including an Associated Press reporter, were on hand to witness the attempt — which was to be Idaho’s first execution in 12 years.The execution team was made up entirely of volunteers, the corrections department said. Those tasked with inserting the IVs and administering the lethal drug had medical training, but their identities were kept secret. They wore white balaclava-style face coverings and navy scrub caps to conceal their faces.With each attempt to insert an IV, the medical team cleaned the skin with alcohol, injected a numbing solution, cleaned the skin again and then attempted to place the IV catheter. Each attempt took several minutes, with medical team members palpating the skin and trying to position the needles.Creech frequently looked toward his family members and representatives, who were sitting in a separate witness room. His arms were strapped to the table, but he often extended his fingers toward them.He appeared to mouth “I love you” to someone in the room on occasion.After the execution was halted, the warden approached Creech and whispered to him for several minutes, giving his arm a squeeze.A few hours afterward, Labrador released a statement saying that “justice had been delayed again.”“Our duty is to seek justice for the many victims and their families who experienced the brutality and senselessness of his actions,” the attorney general wrote.Creech’s attorneys filed a flurry of late appeals hoping to forestall his execution. They included claims that his clemency hearing was unfair, that it was unconstitutional to kill him because he was sentenced by a judge rather than a jury — and that the state had not provided enough information about how it obtained the lethal drug, pentobarbital, or how it was to be administered.But the courts found no grounds for leniency. Creech’s last chance — a petition to the U.S. Supreme Court — was denied a few hours before the scheduled execution Wednesday.On Tuesday night, Creech spent time with his wife and ate a last meal including fried chicken, mashed potatoes, gravy and ice cream.A group of about 15 protesters gathered outside the prison Wednesday, at one point singing “Amazing Grace.”An Ohio native, Creech has spent most of his life behind bars in Idaho. He was acquitted of a killing in Tucson, Arizona, in 1973 — authorities nevertheless believe he did it, as he used the victim’s credit card to travel to Oregon. He was later convicted of a 1974 killing in Oregon and one in California, where he traveled after earning a weekend pass from a psychiatric hospital.Later that year, Creech was arrested in Idaho after killing John Wayne Bradford and Edward Thomas Arnold, two house painters who had picked him and his girlfriend up while they were hitchhiking.He was serving a life sentence for those murders in 1981 when he beat Jensen to death. Jensen was disabled and serving time for car theft.Jensen’s family members described him during Creech’s clemency hearing last month as a gentle soul who loved hunting and being outdoors. Jensen’s daughter was 4 years old when he died, and she spoke about how painful it was to grow up without a father.Creech’s supporters say he is a deeply changed man. Several years ago he married the mother of a correctional officer, and former prison staffers said he was known for writing poetry and expressing gratitude for their work.During his clemency hearing, Ada County Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Jill Longhorst did not dispute that Creech can be charming. But she said he is nevertheless a psychopath — lacking remorse and empathy.Last year, Idaho lawmakers passed a law authorizing execution by firing squad when lethal injection is not available. Prison officials have not yet written a standard operating policy for the use of firing squad, nor have they constructed a facility where a firing squad execution could occur. Both would have to happen before the state could attempt to use the new law, which would likely trigger several legal challenges.Other states have also had trouble carrying out lethal injections.Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey paused executions for several months to conduct an internal review after officials called off the lethal injection of Kenneth Eugene Smith in November 2022 — the third time since 2018 Alabama had been unable to conduct executions due to problems with IV lines.Smith in January became the first person to be put to death using nitrogen gas. He shook and convulsed for several minutes on the death chamber gurney during the execution. Idaho does not allow execution by nitrogen hypoxia.In 2014, Oklahoma officials tried to halt a lethal injection when the prisoner, Clayton Lockett, began writhing after being declared unconscious. He died after 43 minutes; a review found his IV line came loose.

    (Video: KBOI, IDOC – IDAHO DEPARTMENT OF CORRECTION, CNN via CNN Newsource) —

    Idaho halted the execution of serial killer Thomas Eugene Creech on Wednesday after medical team members repeatedly failed to find a vein where they could establish an intravenous line to carry out the lethal injection.

    Creech, 73, has been in prison half a century, convicted of five murders in three states and suspected of several more. He was already serving a life term when he beat a fellow inmate, 22-year-old David Dale Jensen, to death in 1981 — the crime for which he was to be executed.

    Creech, one of the longest-serving death row inmates in the U.S., was wheeled into the execution chamber at the Idaho Maximum Security Institution on a gurney at 10 a.m.

    Three medical team members tried eight times to establish an IV, Department of Correction Director Josh Tewalt told a news conference afterward. In some cases, they couldn’t access the vein, and in others they could but had concerns about vein quality. They attempted sites in his arms, legs, hands and feet. At one point, a medical team member left to gather more supplies.

    The warden announced he was halting the execution at 10:58 a.m.

    The corrections department said its death warrant for Creech would expire, and that it was considering next steps. While other medical procedures might allow for the execution, the state is mindful of the 8th Amendment’s ban on cruel and unusual punishment, Tewalt said.

    Idaho Department of Correction via AP

    FILE – This image provided by the Idaho Department of Correction shows Thomas Eugene Creech on Jan. 9, 2009. Idaho on Wednesday, Feb. 28, 2024, halted the execution of serial killer Thomas Eugene Creech, one of the longest-serving death row inmates in the U.S., after a medical team repeatedly failed to find a vein where they could establish an intravenous line to carry out the lethal injection. (Idaho Department of Correction via AP, File)

    Creech’s attorneys immediately filed a new motion for a stay in U.S. District Court, saying “the badly botched execution attempt” proves the department’s “inability to carry out a humane and constitutional execution.” The court granted the stay after Idaho confirmed it would not try again to execute him before the death warrant expired; the state will have to obtain another warrant if it wants to carry out the execution.

    “This is what happens when unknown individuals with unknown training are assigned to carry out an execution,” the Federal Defender Services of Idaho said in a written statement. “This is precisely the kind of mishap we warned the State and the Courts could happen when attempting to execute one of the country’s oldest death-row inmates.”

    Six Idaho officials, including Attorney General Raul Labrador, and four news media representatives, including an Associated Press reporter, were on hand to witness the attempt — which was to be Idaho’s first execution in 12 years.

    The execution team was made up entirely of volunteers, the corrections department said. Those tasked with inserting the IVs and administering the lethal drug had medical training, but their identities were kept secret. They wore white balaclava-style face coverings and navy scrub caps to conceal their faces.

    With each attempt to insert an IV, the medical team cleaned the skin with alcohol, injected a numbing solution, cleaned the skin again and then attempted to place the IV catheter. Each attempt took several minutes, with medical team members palpating the skin and trying to position the needles.

    Creech frequently looked toward his family members and representatives, who were sitting in a separate witness room. His arms were strapped to the table, but he often extended his fingers toward them.

    He appeared to mouth “I love you” to someone in the room on occasion.

    After the execution was halted, the warden approached Creech and whispered to him for several minutes, giving his arm a squeeze.

    A few hours afterward, Labrador released a statement saying that “justice had been delayed again.”

    “Our duty is to seek justice for the many victims and their families who experienced the brutality and senselessness of his actions,” the attorney general wrote.

    Creech’s attorneys filed a flurry of late appeals hoping to forestall his execution. They included claims that his clemency hearing was unfair, that it was unconstitutional to kill him because he was sentenced by a judge rather than a jury — and that the state had not provided enough information about how it obtained the lethal drug, pentobarbital, or how it was to be administered.

    But the courts found no grounds for leniency. Creech’s last chance — a petition to the U.S. Supreme Court — was denied a few hours before the scheduled execution Wednesday.

    On Tuesday night, Creech spent time with his wife and ate a last meal including fried chicken, mashed potatoes, gravy and ice cream.

    A group of about 15 protesters gathered outside the prison Wednesday, at one point singing “Amazing Grace.”

    An Ohio native, Creech has spent most of his life behind bars in Idaho. He was acquitted of a killing in Tucson, Arizona, in 1973 — authorities nevertheless believe he did it, as he used the victim’s credit card to travel to Oregon. He was later convicted of a 1974 killing in Oregon and one in California, where he traveled after earning a weekend pass from a psychiatric hospital.

    Later that year, Creech was arrested in Idaho after killing John Wayne Bradford and Edward Thomas Arnold, two house painters who had picked him and his girlfriend up while they were hitchhiking.

    He was serving a life sentence for those murders in 1981 when he beat Jensen to death. Jensen was disabled and serving time for car theft.

    Jensen’s family members described him during Creech’s clemency hearing last month as a gentle soul who loved hunting and being outdoors. Jensen’s daughter was 4 years old when he died, and she spoke about how painful it was to grow up without a father.

    Creech’s supporters say he is a deeply changed man. Several years ago he married the mother of a correctional officer, and former prison staffers said he was known for writing poetry and expressing gratitude for their work.

    During his clemency hearing, Ada County Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Jill Longhorst did not dispute that Creech can be charming. But she said he is nevertheless a psychopath — lacking remorse and empathy.

    Last year, Idaho lawmakers passed a law authorizing execution by firing squad when lethal injection is not available. Prison officials have not yet written a standard operating policy for the use of firing squad, nor have they constructed a facility where a firing squad execution could occur. Both would have to happen before the state could attempt to use the new law, which would likely trigger several legal challenges.

    Other states have also had trouble carrying out lethal injections.

    Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey paused executions for several months to conduct an internal review after officials called off the lethal injection of Kenneth Eugene Smith in November 2022 — the third time since 2018 Alabama had been unable to conduct executions due to problems with IV lines.

    Smith in January became the first person to be put to death using nitrogen gas. He shook and convulsed for several minutes on the death chamber gurney during the execution. Idaho does not allow execution by nitrogen hypoxia.

    In 2014, Oklahoma officials tried to halt a lethal injection when the prisoner, Clayton Lockett, began writhing after being declared unconscious. He died after 43 minutes; a review found his IV line came loose.

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  • Idaho Becomes Latest State To Permit Execution By Firing Squad

    Idaho Becomes Latest State To Permit Execution By Firing Squad

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    Republican Idaho Gov. Brad Little has signed a bill allowing execution by firing squad, making Idaho the latest state to turn to older methods of capital punishment amid a nationwide shortage of lethal injection drugs. What do you think?

    “I’m choosing both lethal injection and firing squad just to avoid any fuck-ups.”

    Miranda Perez, Gut Consultant

    Demand Grows For Stricter Transit Regulations After Derailing Train Hits Airplane At 30,000 Feet

    “I dream of a future in which prisoners are executed by the state humanely.”

    Sohail Ashraf, Systems Analyst

    “That’s a waste of bullets. Don’t they have a big rock or something they can drop on people?”

    Trevor Moayedi, Freelance Doodler

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