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| John Battaglia |
John Battaglia - the man who murdered his young daughters out of revenge while their mother listened over the phone - has a new execution date.
State District Judge Robert Burns scheduled the execution for Dec. 7.
That doesn't necessarly mean the lethal dose of drugs will be administered inside the state's death chamber in Huntsville. A federal court has ordered a hearing to look into Battaglia's claims of mental incompetency. The execution date had to be set before the hearing could take place.
Battaglia, now 61, was scheduled to be executed in March but won a last-minute stay from the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals so his lawyer could pursue the incompetency claims.
No date has been set for the hearing in Burns' court.
Battaglia was sentenced to death for killing Faith, 9, and Liberty, 6, at his Deep Ellum loft in May 2001. He arranged a call with his ex-wife, who listened on the phone as the older girl begged: "No, Daddy! Don't do it!"
He later headed to a nearby tattoo parlor to have 2 red roses etched on his arm in memory of the girls. That night, he recorded a message on their answering machine: "Good night, my little babies. I hope you are resing in a different place. I love you."
Psychiatrists testified for the defense at his trial that Battaglia suffered from bipolar disorder. An adult daughter from his 1st marriage later said he was also diagnosed with narcissistic personality disorder, characterized by manipulative behavior, a hyper-inflated sense of self-importance and lack of empathy.
Christine Womble, an appellate attorney at the Dallas County's district attorney's office, has said she's "confident" of Battaglia's guilt and his competency.
One of Battaglia's attorneys, Gregory Gardner, argued in court documents that Battaglia has long "exhibited bizarre behavior consistent with severe mental illness."
In a 2014 interview with The Dallas Morning News, Battaglia said he was "a little bit in the blank" about what happened to Faith and Liberty.
"I don't feel like I killed them," he said.
He called his daughters his "best little friends," just the "nicest little kids" imaginable, and said he doesn't grieve for them beacuse they remain with him.
"Why would I worry about where they are now?" he asked. "We're all here, we're all gone at the same time. I'm not worried about it."
Source: Dallas Morning News, August 16, 2016
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