The US state of Texas has executed a man convicted of killing his mother nearly two decades ago, authorities said.
Tracy Beatty, 61, was pronounced dead yesterday at 6:39 pm local time in a Huntsville city jail, the Texas Department of Criminal Justice said.
Beatty was sentenced to death in 2004 for killing her 62-year-old mother, Carolyn Click, a year earlier.
Beatty was released from prison after serving sentences for robbery and assault and remained with her mother despite her “volatile and combative relationship,” according to court documents.
She had asked him to get away from her before he killed her in a fight.
As Beatty’s execution date approached, his attorneys filed final appeals to try to save him on the grounds that he was intellectually damaged.
Two doctors met with him last month but say they were unable to conduct a final examination because prison authorities refused to remove his handcuffs.
The United States Supreme Court has ruled that it is unconstitutional to execute prisoners who are intellectually disabled and unable to understand their sentence. Beatty’s lawyers had asked the highest US court to stay the execution.
But there was no intervention and Beatty was executed by lethal injection, the 13th inmate executed since the beginning of the year in the United States and the fourth in Texas.