A man, John Battaglia 62 years old, and a former accountant has been charged for murdering his two young daughters in cold blood.
He was on the phone with their mother Mary Jean Pearl, when she heard gunshots and the screams of her children.
The man allegedly went to a bar with his girlfriend and from there he went to a tattoo parlour to get a rose tattoos to remember his daughters. It was from the Tatoo parlour he was arrested.
John Battaglia a resident in Dallas, Texas, had been divorced from his wife for a year around the time the shooting occurred. The girl’s names were Mary Faith who was 9 and Liberty who was 6.
Art the time of the shooting which was in 2001, Mary was already trying to get the husband arrested for violation of a protective order when he threatened her.
John who was due to have his daughters over for their planned dinner, when police called him to inform him he should turn himself in for violating his parole. To avoid the embarrassment of being picked up whilst he was supposed to be with his kids.
When the daughters arrived at John’s apartment he called his wife and left a voicemail when the wife called back, he put the phone on speaker and ordered her to speak with their older daughter, Mary Faith.
Mary then asked the mother “Mommy, why do you want Daddy to go to jail?” a couple seconds later she could be heard saying “No, Daddy, please don’t, don’t do it.”The next thing the mother heard was gunshots and then John shouting abuse at her over the phone.
The mother called the police and found the girl’s dead in Battaglia’s house, both with multiple gun wound’s . John is to be executed today.
His lawyers in a last ditch attempt appealed with the U.s Supreme Court to spare his life based on the fact that he suffers from mental illness and has a delusional disorder so his ‘perception of reality may be so distorted that he is incompetent to be executed.”
This would be the 3rd execution in the US this year the prior 2 were in Texas.