Man gets death for shooting daughters

Posted 7:54AM on Wednesday 1st May 2002 ( 23 years ago )

DALLAS - Mary Jean Pearle unleashed a year's worth of rage at her ex-husband, calling him ``one of the most heinous murderers of modern times,'' after a jury sentenced him to death for killing their young daughters. The jury took six and a half hours Tuesday to sentence John Battaglia to lethal injection for gunning down 6-year-old Liberty and 9-year-old Faith last May as Pearle listened helplessly on the telephone. ``I would like to say the next time you see me is when they put the needle in your arm, but I'm not going to waste the time to be there,'' Pearle told a stone-faced Battaglia, addressing him in her victim's impact statement. Battaglia's attorney, Paul Johnson, filed an appeal immediately after the verdict. The grounds may include the fact that most evidence from the crime scene, including the girls' bodies, was obtained without a warrant, Johnson said. In sentencing Battaglia to death, the jury determined he posed a future danger to society and there were no mitigating circumstances to warrant a life sentence. The same jury took only 19 minutes to convict Battaglia last week. Battaglia's attorneys acknowledged their client's guilt and history of domestic abuse, but tried to save his life by presenting witnesses who called him a loving father and psychiatrists who said he suffered from a bipolar disorder characterized by extremely manic and depressive behavior. ``Taking a mentally ill man and executing him for something that he did . . . in the throes of a severe mental illness - that shows no more compassion than what John Battaglia showed to those two children,'' Johnson said during closing arguments. Prosecutors said the slaying was the ``ultimate act of revenge'' against Pearle, who was prosecuting Battaglia at the time of the killings for violating a protective order stemming from an assault against her. ``His hatred for Mary Jean overrode any love that he had for these children,'' prosecutor Howard Blackman said in closing arguments. ``He destroyed his children to destroy her.'' The night of the killings, prosecutors said Battaglia had Pearle call his apartment and then shot the girls multiple times while the 9-year-old pleaded ``No, no, Daddy, don't,'' and their mother listened in horror. Pearle called police, who broke in and found the girls lying face-down in pools of blood Johnson said his client was remorseful and resigned to his fate. ``John's told people that he would rather die than live the rest of his life remembering day to day what happened to his children,'' Johnson said after the verdict.

http://accesswdun.com/article/2002/5/202319