HUNTSVILLE, Texas — A Texas man convicted of killing his mother and burying her body in her backyard nearly two decades ago was executed by lethal injection on Wednesday.
Tracy Beatty, 61, of Whitehouse, was executed at the Huntsville State Penitentiary, KYTX-TV reported. He was pronounced dead at 6:39 p.m. CST, according to The Associated Press.
Beatty was convicted of the murder of his mother, 62-year-old Carolyn Ruth “Callie” Click, on Nov. 25, 2003, the Tyler Morning Telegraph reported. Authorities said Beatty buried his mother in the backyard of her mobile home in Whitehouse, according to the newspaper.
Tracy Beatty, who murdered his mother days before Thanksgiving in 2003, died tonight in an execution chamber after waiting on death row for nearly two decades. https://t.co/Ji1cDToddn
— Tylerpaper (@Tylerpaper) November 10, 2022
He then spent the woman’s money on drugs and alcohol, the AP reported.
The Supreme Court on Wednesday declined a request to stop Beatty’s execution, The Washington Post reported. His lawyers had appealed after a district judge dismissed a request that the Texas Department of Criminal Justice unshackle Beatty’s hands while he underwent a mental evaluation in September.
Federal judges in East Texas and Houston and the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans previously ruled against Beatty’s request, with the appeals court labeling the motion a “delay tactic,” according to the AP.
Beatty also attempted to delay the execution after claiming juror misconduct during his trial in 2004.
Beatty’s execution date changed several times, including in 2020 during the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, according to KYTX.
“I’m not worried about it. And I’ve already made my peace with the Man. So I know where I’m going,” Beatty said in an Oct. 12 interview with the television station. “I’ll be in a lot better place than this.”
Beatty was the fourth inmate executed in Texas this year and the 13th in the U.S., according to the AP. The state’s final execution this year is scheduled for next week.
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