Texas executes Tracy Beatty for strangling mother to death

The Texas State Penitentiary at Huntsville, nicknamed the “Walls Unit,” on Aug. 20, 2020. (Credit: Mark Felix for The Texas Tribune)

The state executed Tracy Beatty on Wednesday evening for murdering his mother in East Texas in 2003.

Beatty, 61, was found guilty of fatally strangling Carolyn Click at the end of a violent and tumultuous relationship. Although his attorneys acknowledge Beatty killed his mother, they contended the crime didn’t qualify for the death penalty.