Texas death row inmate is set to be executed today by lethal injection for strangling his mother to death and burying her body in her backyard 19 years ago
- Tracy Beatty, 61, is due to be executed for strangling his mother to death in 2003
- His execution by lethal injection is set for Wednesday after 6pm CT
- His lawyers acknowledge he killed her but challenge the use of the death penalty
- Beatty’s execution has already been stayed three times – this is his fourth date
- If executed he would become the fourth inmate put to death this year in Texas
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Texas death row inmate Tracy Beatty is due to be executed this evening for strangling his mother to death and burying her body in her backyard in 2003.
Tracy Beatty, 61, is scheduled to receive a lethal injection on Wednesday evening after 6pm CT at the state’s death row facility in Huntsville – nicknamed the Walls Unit.
Beatty buried the body of his mother Carolyn Click, 62, beside her mobile home about 115 miles southeast of Dallas in a city called Whitehouse.
He then spent her money on drugs and alcohol, the state claims.
Although Beatty’s attorneys do not dispute that he killed his mother, they have argued he is not eligible for the death penalty because the act did not constitute capital murder.
Capital murder requires aggravating circumstances such as killing a police officer or child or being in the process of committing another crime.
Beatty was found guilty of capital murder because prosecutors argued he killed his mother during a home burglary and had entered her motor home without her consent.
Tracy Beatty, 61, is due to be executed this evening for strangling his mother to death and burying her body in her backyard in 2003
He will receive a lethal injection on Wednesday evening at the state’s death row facility in Huntsville – nicknamed the Walls Unit – after 6pm
Beatty buried the body of his mother Carolyn Click (pictured), 62, in the backyard beside her motor home
Beatty was staying with his mother in November 2003 after being released from parole for intentionally harming his 18-month-old niece.
When he returned home after a day of drinking he had a dispute with Click, he said in an interview with CBS19 last week.
Beatty’s attorneys also attempted to argue that he is not mentally fit and therefore that the execution would be unconstitutional
That’s when he grabbed her by the throat and strangled her. He claims he wasn’t even aware he had killed her until the next day.
A jury decided his fate in 2004 and since then his execution has been delayed three times.
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His attorneys claim he was living with her at the time of the fight and therefore it couldn’t have been a burglary.
Beatty had a ‘volatile and combative relationship’ with his mother, according to prosecutors.
A neighbor testified during his trial that Click had told her the day she was last seen that she had told Beatty that day to move out after a fight.
Lieanna Wilkerson testified that Click told her Beatty had assaulted her several times before, including once when he had ‘beaten her so severely that he had left her for dead.’
Wilkerson said Click had still been excited to have Beatty move back in with her in October 2003 so they could mend their relationship.
‘Several times [Beatty] had said he just wanted to shut her up, that he just wanted to choke her and shut her up,’ testified Wilkerson.
A jury decided Beatty’s fate in 2004 but since then his execution has been delayed three times. Today is his fourth scheduled execution date
Beatty’s attorneys also attempted to argue that he is not mentally fit and therefore that the execution would be unconstitutional but the US Supreme Court declined an appeal to halt the execution on Wednesday morning.
His attorneys had argued he was being prevented from receiving a full examination to determine if he is intellectually disabled and possibly ineligible to be put to death.
They requested that state prison officials allow Beatty to have his handcuffs removed during mental health evaluations.
Their experts argued that having Beatty uncuffed during the tests is crucial to evaluating his mental health.
In their Supreme Court petition, Beatty’s lawyers said one expert who examined him found he is ‘clearly psychotic and has a complex paranoid delusional belief system’ and that he lives in a ‘complex delusional world’.
They also suggested he believes there is a ‘vast conspiracy of correctional officers who… “torture” him via a device in his ear so he can hear their menacing voices.’
Last week US District Judge Charles Eskridge in Houston asked why Beatty’s lawyers had not raised any claim relating to his mental health during years of appeals and said requiring handcuffs during such an evaluation is ‘quite simply, a rational security concern.’
Beatty would become the fourth person to be executed by Texas this year. Its final execution of the year is scheduled for next week
If Beatty is executed he would become the fourth inmate to be put to death this year in Texas and the 13th in the US.
Texas’ final execution for the year is set to take place next week.
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