A Texas man faced execution on Thursday for the murder of his girlfriend’s 13-month-old daughter, a crime prosecutors described as a horrifying 30-hour “exorcism.”

Blaine Milam, 35, was found guilty of killing the toddler, Amora Carson, in December 2008 during an attempt to remove a demon from her at his trailer located in Rusk County, east of Dallas, as reported by the Associated Press.

He was pronounced dead by lethal injection at 6:40 p.m. at the state penitentiary in Huntsville.

The Associated Press noted that when Milam arrived at the Huntsville Unit prison early Thursday afternoon, prison officials observed he seemed nervous and mentioned a headache. He was subsequently confined in a small cell next to the execution chamber.

An execution chamber in a Texas prison.  (AP)

Carson was later convicted of capital murder and sentenced to life without parole.

Milam’s lawyers argued for leniency, pointing to questionable bite-mark evidence and the possibility of his intellectual disability. His execution had been postponed twice, in 2019 and 2021, while the courts assessed these concerns.

The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals ruled the execution should proceed, and the Board of Pardons and Paroles denied his clemency request.

The AP reported that Milam’s trial was moved to Montgomery County, more than 140 miles south, because of intense publicity.

Texas remains the nation’s leading death-penalty state.