Texas juries handed out two new death sentences this week:
On Thursday, May 27, 2010, Blaine Keith Milam was sentenced to death in Montgomery County for the murder of 13-month-old Amora Carson, the daughter of his girlfriend, Jessica Carson. Jessica Carson also faces capital murder charges. She is being held in Rusk County Jail while awaiting her trial. Milam’s trial had been moved to the Montgomery County Courthouse from Rusk County because of pretrial publicity. Read more.
On Friday, May 28, 2010, a jury in Brazos County sentenced John Thuesen to death for the murders of his ex-girlfriend, Rachel Joiner, and her brother Travis. Thuesen’s attorneys had argued that he suffered from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder as a result of his service in Iraq from August 2004 to March 2005. More information is available from KBTX.com.
So far this year there have been five new death sentences in Texas. In 2009, juries condemned nine new individuals to death, the lowest number of new death sentences since the U.S. Supreme Court upheld Texas’ revised death penalty statute in 1976.