Battaglia found guilty of capital murder - man who murdered daughters faces possible death penalty

The Dallas Morning News ^ | April 24, 2002 | By STEVE McGONIGLE / The Dallas Morning News

[MeekOneGOP]

Battaglia found guilty of capital murder

04/24/2002

By STEVE McGONIGLE / The Dallas Morning News

A Dallas County jury today convicted Dallas accountant John Battaglia of capital murder in the slayings of his daughters in his apartment last May.

Jurors, who took only 20 minutes to convict Mr. Battaglia, will now start hearing witnesses in the punishment phase of the trial. Mr. Battaglia's attorneys will try to convince the jury that Mr. Battaglia, 46, should receive a life sentence instead of the death penalty for the shooting deaths of 6-year-old Liberty and 9-year-old Faith Battaglia in May 2001.

John Battaglia

Prosecutors called only 12 witnesses over two days of testimony before resting their case Tuesday afternoon. Mr. Battaglia's lead defense attorney, Paul Johnson, immediately rested his case, calling no witnesses in Mr. Battaglia's defense.

Mr. Johnson said he plans to call several witnesses during the punishment phase, including psychiatric experts. He said they will "focus on what we feel were the causes of this incident and let the jury decide whether he needs to die."

In dramatic testimony Monday, Ms. Pearle said she heard five gunshots and Battaglia yelling profanity as she listened over the phone..

Faith Battaglia

Liberty Battaglia

Ms. Pearle called police, who broke into the apartment and found the girls' bodies, along with handguns, shotguns and rifles.

---

Online at: http://www.dallasnews.com/latestnews/stories/042402dnmetbattaglia.18848.html

[MeekOneGOP]

WFAA TV Video:
Mary Ann Razzuk reports
http://www.wfaa.com/popups/04-02/23wfaa020423_am_battagliaday2.html

WFAA TV Video:
Legal expert analyzes Battaglia defense strategy

http://www.wfaa.com/popups/04-02/23wfaa020423_am_battagliastrategy.html

[MeekOneGOP]

Battaglia found guilty of capital murder

Please let me know if you want ON or OFF my ping list!. . .don't be shy.

[TopQuark]

Could you please explain why is this of any importance?

[moyden]

Possible outcomes:

1. Death penalty.

2. Suicide.

3. Murdered in prison.

[ThreeYearLurker]

Couldn't of happened to a nicer guy. Too bad it won't take twenty minutes to get his deserved punishment.

[MeekOneGOP]

I'm sure if you were the two girls mother or other of their family, your perspective would likely be different?
Just thinkin' out loud here, FRiend.........

[RikaStrom]

Couldn't happen to a nicer guy.

What an evil man.

[Brownie74]

Wow!! That didn't take long. The trial just started a couple of days ago didn't it. I saw in the headlines that neither the prosecution or the defense called any witnesses.

Battaglia needs to go down on this one.

[Delbert]

THis happened here in Dallas last year, bastard shot his daughters point blank in order to get back at his estranged wife. He deserves death penalty.

[RikaStrom]

Agreed. I found it interesting that his lawyer didn't call any witnesses.

[TopQuark]

Of course. Like all other things that I suffered, this would be my private tragedy. It is a crime (a wrong against society), so the police and the courts would be working on this.

You have offered nothing to think about this even, nor do anything about that. If I could help the family, this is another story. If the courts of police do not function properly --- that, too, is another story.

What I am pointing out to you is a uniquely American fascination with crime and calamities. Only in this country do these topics lead the news. Only here do we have a post with zero thought in it but which is expected to be of interest because it deals with crime.

[SerpentDove]

>>Could you please explain why is this of any importance?<<

Could you please explain why you so arrogantly and condescendingly dismiss what is a legitimate news story?

You do realize this is a news forum, don't you?

[EggsAckley]

Um....Mr.Quark, You may be surprized to learn that there ARE some people who are interested in this case, for whatever their reasons. If YOU'RE not interested, then please, do us a favor and DON'T READ THIS THREAD.

Thank you.

[McLynnan]

Good, this man is the scum of the earth. I had WBAP on when they reported the verdict. Did I understand the reporter to say he shot those little girls in the spinal cord to cripple them before he finished them off?

[MeekOneGOP]

It was quick alright!.........

Prosecutors called only 12 witnesses over two days of testimony before resting their case Tuesday afternoon. Mr. Battaglia's lead defense attorney, Paul Johnson, immediately rested his case, calling no witnesses in Mr. Battaglia's defense.

Started Monday, I think.
Funny, too. I was in the middle of posting the article and was about to copy the HTML source code. I hit "Printer Friendly" to copy that and article CHANGED to "Guilty" from Deliberation or Resumes or something. I had to change the title in my post to make it match the story! Good thing I was paying attention! LOL! :O)

They are supposed to begin punishment deliberations this afternoon, I think. They mentioned this on FOX News earlier too......

[MeekOneGOP]

Can you believe the jury took only 20 minutes to find him guilty? "guilty...guilty...guilty...." around the table.

"Pass the coffee, please".

Let's go tell the judge!

[Illbay]

But wait: Shouldn't we try to understand the pressures this man was under first? Isn't his wife to blame in some part? Shouldn't she be put on trial also?

Why are we forgetting the difficulties of being a man in today's society? We should be trying to HELP this man, not kill him!</Post-Yates Sarcasm>

[Illbay]

Maybe he needs to go read every one of the "I'm A Bad American" threads from the past three years. THEN he might catch a glimpse of truly pointless FR posting.