East Texas Man Executed Nearly 20 Years After Murdering His Mom

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It was 2003, and Thanksgiving Day was only two days away. Carolyn Click, who was 62 at the time, lived in a mobile home in Whitehouse, Texas (just southeast of Tyler). Although she and her son, Tracy Beatty, had a history of a turbulent relationship that reportedly included daily arguments, she welcomed him back to live with her in the hope that they could mend their ways.

According to court documents and media reports, on Tuesday, November 25, Beatty, 42 at the time, murdered his mother and then buried her body in the yard outside her home. Beatty then used his mother's money to buy drugs and alcohol.

Beatty was captured and subsequently convicted of capital murder. He arrived in Huntsville on August 13, 2004, and has been on 'Death Row' since that time. Beatty had been in the Texas prison system before, he had served a four-year sentence from Dallas County for Injury to a Child. He was released on Mandatory Supervision and returned with a new conviction, a 15-year sentence from Dallas County for Theft.

Following years of legal battles to rescind his capital punishment, Beatty's execution took place Wednesday evening (11/9) in Huntsville. Lethal drugs were injected at 6:22 p.m. and he was pronounced dead at 6:29 p.m. His wife was among the witnesses to the execution.

Beatty is the 4th inmate to be executed in Texas in 2022. The fifth execution of the year is scheduled to take place on Wednesday, November 16. Stephen Barbee is slated to die for the 2005 murder of a woman, 34, and a child, 7, in Tarrant County.