Texas man executed for 2008 murder of girlfriend's infant daughter

A Texas man was executed Thursday evening for the 2008 killing of his girlfriend's 13 month old daughter in what prosecutors said was a 30 hour ordeal the couple described as an exorcism to expel a demon. Blaine Milam, 35, was put to death by lethal injection at the state penitentiary in Huntsville and was pronounced dead at 6:40 p.m., officials said.

Prosecutors say Milam savagely beat the child, Amora Carson, with a hammer, and also bit, strangled and mutilated her over about 30 hours at a trailer in Rusk County in East Texas. A forensic pathologist who performed the autopsy testified at trial that the toddler had multiple skull fractures, broken arms, legs and ribs and numerous bite marks, and that the injuries were so extensive he could not determine a single cause of death.

Milam and his then fiancee, Jesseca Carson, were 18 at the time. Carson was tried separately, convicted of capital murder and sentenced to life without the possibility of parole after prosecutors said the couple ultimately told investigators they had attempted to exorcise a demon from the child. Milam maintained his innocence and had blamed Carson for the killing.

Defense attorneys pursued last-minute...