March 30
TEXAS----stay of impending execution
Father who killed daughters given death penalty reprieve
A federal appeals court Wednesday stopped the scheduled lethal injection of a
former accountant hours before he was to be executed for gunning down his 2
young daughters in Dallas 15 years ago while his ex-wife -- their mother -- was
listening helplessly on the phone.
Attorneys for John David Battaglia argued he deserved a court-appointed
attorney to investigate claims that he may be mentally incompetent for
execution, and that a hearing should be held on those assertions.
The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals agreed, halting the punishment about 7
hours before Battaglia, 60, was scheduled to be taken to the Texas death
chamber.
The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that a prisoner can be executed if he's aware
that the death penalty is set to be carried out and understands why he's facing
the ultimate sentence.
The appeals court said Battaglia "has presented some evidence of mental illness
and delusions," although it was not clear if he was incompetent.
"His newly appointed counsel may locate and produce more (evidence)," the
3-judge appellate court based in New Orleans panel said in a 10-page ruling
halting the execution.
The state of Texas said it had no plans to appeal.
Battaglia was convicted of killing his daughters, Faith, 9, and Liberty, 6.
Authorities said the slayings were revenge for their mother's complaints to
Battaglia's parole officer that led to a warrant for his arrest.
Evidence showed that at the time of the shootings, Battaglia was on probation
for a Christmas 1999 attack on his estranged wife Mary Jean Pearle, the girls'
mother. Their divorce was finalized the following August.
Around Easter 2001, Battaglia called Pearle, swearing at her and calling her
names, a violation of his probation. She reported the incident to his probation
officer and Battaglia learned on May 2, 2001, that an arrest warrant had been
issued. That evening, Pearle left their daughters with him for a planned
dinner.
She soon received a message that one of the girls had called for her. Pearle
returned the call and Battaglia put her on speakerphone, telling Faith to ask
her mother: "Why do you want Daddy to go to jail?"
Pearle heard the child cry out: "No, Daddy, please don't, don't do it."
Pearle yelled into the phone for the girls to run and heard gunshots, followed
by Battaglia telling her: "Merry ... Christmas," the words divided by an
obscenity. After hearing more gunfire, Pearle hung up and called 911.
Evidence showed Faith was shot 3 times, Liberty 5. A semiautomatic pistol found
near the kitchen door was among more than a dozen firearms recovered from
Battaglia's apartment.
Hours later, Battaglia was arrested leaving a tattoo shop where he had 2 large
red roses inked on his left arm to commemorate his daughters.
9 convicted killers have been executed in the U.S. this year, 5 in Texas.
Another Texas inmate is set to die next week.
(source: Associated Press)
*********************
Executions under Greg Abbott, Jan. 21, 2015-present----18
Executions in Texas: Dec. 7, 1982----present-----536
Abbott#--------scheduled execution date-----name------------Tx. #
19---------April 6------------------Pablo Vasquez---------537
20---------May 11-------------------Terry Edwards---------538
21---------June 2-------------------Charles Flores--------539
22---------June 21------------------Robert Roberson-------540
23---------July 14------------------Perry Williams--------541
24---------July 27------------------Rolando Ruiz----------542
25---------August 23----------------Robert Pruett---------543
(sources: TDCJ & Rick Halperin)
FLORIDA:
Prosecutors want death for Cocoa man who buried woman alive
Jury selection is underway for the trial of a Cocoa man charged with kidnapping
a Bahamian woman and burying her alive in concrete a decade ago.
Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty for 37-year-old Vahtiece Alfonzo
Kirkman, who is already serving a life sentence in state prison for his role in
the 2006 robbery-related shooting death of 29-year-old Willie Parker in Cocoa.
Prosecutors say Kirkman learned that the victim in the latest case -
22-year-old Darice Knowles - had gone out on a date with a Cocoa police officer
after Parker's slaying and suspected she was giving the officer information
about his involvement. Kirkman then hatched a plan to kidnap and kill Knowles,
with help from her boyfriend, Christopher Pratt.
The trial - the 2nd murder conviction case the state has pursued against
Kirkman - is being held at the Moore Justice Center in Viera and is expected to
last 2 weeks.
Jurors will hear from several witnesses who will detail how Knowles traveled
from her home in the Bahamas to visit friends in Cocoa.
She was staying with Pratt when she went missing a short time later in March
2006, authorities said.
Family members tried desperately to contact Knowles for several weeks after she
failed to return the islands.
Knowles had participated in the Miss Bahamas Universe contest in 2004, smiling
and posing playfully with a dolphin in photos later posted on social media by
family members.
The case went cold until police received a break in July 2010.
Pratt, who offered to testify against his former friend and cohort, pled guilty
to Knowles' killing and led detectives to a thickly-wooded site off of State
Road 524 where the Bahamian student was taken, duct-taped and then covered with
concrete while she was still alive, prosecutors said.
Police said that before the burial, Kirkman beat Darice and tied her up in the
back seat of a gold Dodge van while he asked friends to give him a ride to a
home improvement store to buy a shovel, pre-mixed concrete and duct tape,
reports show. That van, a rental leased out to Pratt, was later set on fire and
abandoned.
Pratt later told friends that he took Knowles back to Orlando International
Airport to go back to the Bahamas and that she had cheated on him with a Cocoa
police officer.
Police said the pair had actually taken Knowles to the woods, placed her in a
home and covered her in lime and concrete. They then carried out the burial.
Later, acting on a tip from a cellmate who knew Pratt, Cocoa detectives spent
several days carefully going through the brush along State Road 524, just west
of Cox Road.
"We're hopeful that we will find something. So far we have cleared away a full
acre of land and are moving into another parcel,' then police spokeswoman
Barbara Matthews told FLORIDA TODAY.
Police cleared away more than an acre of land, using city work crews and heavy
equipment to search for what would turn out to be Knowles' body entombed in 4
foot-deep hole packed with concrete and dirt.
Detectives first found a lump of soft concrete in a patch of overgrown brush
and then two small bones at what later was determined to be the site where
Knowles' remains were cast in concrete.
Forensic investigators carefully removed over 1,600 cubic feet of dirt from the
site and had an anthropologist examine Knowles' remains to determine just how
long she had been buried.
Kirkman is being held at the Brevard County Jail Complex for the duration of
the trial.
(source: floridatoday.com)
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