[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----TEXAS

[Rick Halperin]

March 30




TEXAS----stay of impending execution

Execution stay issued for John Battaglia, Dallas man who murdered his 'little 
babies'


The former Dallas accountant scheduled to be put to death Wednesday for 
murdering his young daughters in 2001 has been issued a last-minute stay of 
execution.

The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals on Wednesday granted John Battaglia a 
reprieve so his attorney can pursue claims that he should be spared because of 
mental health problems.

Battaglia shot and killed his daughters, 9-year-old Faith and 6-year-old 
Liberty, on May 2, 2001, in an act of vengeance against his ex-wife, who had 
been trying to have him arrested for violating his domestic violence probation. 
He arranged for his ex, the girls' mother, to listen on the phone as he shot 
them.

"No, Daddy! Don't do it!" the older girl pleaded before she died.

Afterward, Battaglia headed to a nearby tattoo parlor to have 2 red roses 
etched into his arm - in memory, he said, of his little girls.

At his capital murder trial, defense psychiatrists testified that Battaglia 
suffered from bipolar disorder. An adult daughter from his first marriage later 
said he was also diagnosed with narcissistic personality disorder, 
characterized by manipulative behavior, a hyperinflated sense of 
self-importance and a lack of empathy.

Now 60 years old, Battaglia has been on death row for 14 years.

His latest attorney, Gregory Gardner, argued in appeals paperwork that his 
client was incompetent to be executed. The appeals court ruled that Battaglia 
previously "lacked counsel to prepare his claim of incompetency" and issued a 
stay to give Gardner time to pursue his case.

The state could still challenge the court's opinion ahead of Battaglia's 
scheduled execution, which was set for shortly after 6 p.m.

A spokeswoman for the Texas Attorney General's Office said she could not say 
whether the office planned to appeal.

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 also said he didn't worry about being put to death because "this isn't a 
permanent place."

He called his daughters his "best little friends," just the "nicest little 
kids" imaginable, and said he doesn't grieve for his daughters because 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)