Blaine Milam has an execution scheduled in Texas on September 25, 2025 for the 2008 murder of Amora Carson.

Blaine Milam is an East Texas man who’s on death row for the 2008 beating death of 13-month-old Amora Carson. Milam was scheduled to be executed in 2021, but a Texas appeals court granted a request to stay his execution; his lawyers argued he displayed significant limitations in intellectual functioning.

The State argues that the limits of his intellectual capacity are insufficient to exclude him from eligibility for execution, however everyone agrees that he reads at an eighth grade level, which is typical of people 13-14 years of age. That's not an adult. He should not be executed.

Blaine Milam is intellectually disabled. Related to this critical death penalty case, The Arc of the United States, The Arc of Texas, Disability Rights Texas, and the American Association on Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities (AAIDD), along with law firm Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson LLP, filed a “friend-of-the-court” brief urging the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals to protect people with intellectual disability from unconstitutional executions. The groups took a stand in support of accurate identification of intellectual disability in the case of Blaine Milam, an inmate now on death row. Their message to the court was clear: when it comes to determining who has intellectual disability, courts must refer to clinical standards—not stereotypes. Unfortunately, the US Supreme Court did not grant relief to Mr. Milam and he has again been scheduled for execution.

Learn more about these issues here and here.

Texas' aggressive execution schedule marks it as an outlier in its use of the death penalty while the majority of other states are on a downward trend of executions. In 2019, Texas accounted for 9 of the nation's 22 state executions, and in 2020 accounted for 3 of the 7 state executions.

Please sign the petition asking Governor Abbott and the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles to do everything within their power to stop this execution, including issuing a stay, and seeking a path to clemency in the case.

Petitions will be delivered on your behalf in advance of the execution.

Additionally, you may reach out now to the Board at bpp_clemency@tdcj.texas.gov and the Governor at https://gov.texas.gov/contact/ and (512) 463-1782. You can simply leave a voice message, or choose to speak to a representative if you prefer.

Please note: In Texas, the Governor does have limited power when it comes to the death penalty. But the story we are told that "it's out of the governor's hands," is only true if we allow it to be. Yes, the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles must recommend clemency in that state in order for the Governor to grant clemency (mercy) by commuting a death sentence. But the fact is that the governor appoints the members of the Board of Pardons and Paroles. He can choose to appoint members who will take valid claims and concerns more seriously, instead of acting like rubber-stamping gate-keepers. He can still use his position of power and influence to enact justice in the State of Texas.