Posted 11:03 pm Tuesday, May 04, 2010
Testimony Begins In ‘Exorcism’ Murder Trial
By KENNETH DEAN
Staff Writer
CONROE -- Jurors began hearing testimony Monday in the "exorcism" murder of 13-month-old Amora Bain Carson in December 2008 in a rural Rusk County home.
Staff Writer
CONROE -- Jurors began hearing testimony Monday in the "exorcism" murder of 13-month-old Amora Bain Carson in December 2008 in a rural Rusk County home.
Blaine Milam stands accused, with the child's mother Jessica Carson, of beating, biting and strangling the child to death .
During his opening statement, Rusk County District Attorney Micheal Jimerson told jurors the death of Amora Carson did not last a few minutes, but that her murder lasted several hours. He also divulged for the first time that Amora had been sexually abused and her arms, legs and ribs had been broken. He added she also suffered multiple skull fractures and a detached retina.
Jimerson told the jurors they would have to endure horrific testimony and view graphic photos, but it was so justice might be served.
"Justice for Amora Bain Carson is worth facing what you are going to have to face," he said.
Milam sat most of the day listening to testimony, but when photos of Amora's badly beaten body was shown, he hung his head and refused to look. Jurors were visibly shaken, but kept their eyes open and listened to the testimony.
Jimerson and Texas Attorney General prosecutor Lisa Tanner opened their testimony with Sgt. Kevin Roy of the Rusk County Sheriff's Office, who was the first officer on the scene the day of the murder,
Roy answered questions about what he saw and did before taking a hard line of questions from Steve Jackson, a Montgomery County attorney on the case with lead defense attorney Rick Hagan and second-chair John Moore both of Longview.
Hagan and Jackson voiced multiple objections in the state's first day of witnesses and repeatedly asked for a mistrial, which 4th District Court Judge Clay Gossett denied.
Gossett moved the trial to Conroe because of media publicity in the East Texas area since the murder.
A recording of an interview with Milam by Texas Ranger Kenny Ray was the last piece of evidence the jurors heard Monday.
The tape, about an hour long, began with Ray introducing himself and Milam saying he knew the "two main suspects" in the case and that he wanted them hung.
Milam told Ray he and Ms. Carson had left a sleeping Amora home alone as they looked at land down the road from his parents' home for a mobile home they were buying.
He said when they went back, they found Amora in a hole in the bathroom floor with blood around her mouth.
During the interview, Milam voiced his thoughts about anyone who would hurt a child, but even saying he could not hold his dead child did not bring any emotions.
Ray then asked Milam, a registered sex offender, to admit what hap
pened and stop telling lies.
Milam continued to announce his innocence, saying he would take a polygraph and submit to dental casting to determine whether the 24 bites on the baby's body were made by him.
Milam continued to announce his innocence, saying he would take a polygraph and submit to dental casting to determine whether the 24 bites on the baby's body were made by him.
However
, Milam told Ray that Amora was alive when he first found her, then later that she was dead when he found her.
, Milam told Ray that Amora was alive when he first found her, then later that she was dead when he found her.
Ray told Milam he did not believe him, but Milam again said he was innocent.
Officials have said in the past that the pair finally confessed to the killing, but said the baby was possessed like the "Chucky" character from a series of horror movies.
According to arrest affidavits the two said they began an exorcism to drive out the demons and then went to look for a priest, but no priest has ever come forward who even talked to the couple.
Milam told Ray in the taped interview played in court Monday that sometimes Amora made him angry and that she had taken baths with him in the tub.
Milam was convicted of a sex crime prior to the murder -- he broke into a neighbor's home and rifled through a juvenile's under garment drawer and left descriptive notes and photos from a pornographic magazine.
Milam was released from jail early after Gossett ordered him jailed for failing to register as a sex offender.
According to records, he was supposed to have been in jail when Amora was murdered.
Ms. Carson remains jailed awaiting her own capital murder trial. If convicted Milam faces the death penalty.
Testimony is expected to resume at 9 a.m. today.
