In May of 2001, John David Battaglia, a former Dallas accountant, murdered his 9-year-old daughter, Faith, and Liberty, his other 6-year-old daughter. He shot the two children at his apartment during a scheduled visit. He was executed on Thursday, February 1st. Prosecutors say that at the time of the shootings, Battaglia was mad that his wife, Pearle, had informed the police of his abuse and harassment. He was angry and decided to kill their children to get back at her. At this time, Battaglia was on probation because he attacked his wife in 1999. Faith, one of the children, had tried calling her mom around the time of her death. Pearle called back and could hear one of the girls begging for her life. Pearle heard gunshots, and Battaglia voiced, “Merry Christmas,” to the mother. She heard more gunshots and called the police. He shot Faith three times and shot Liberty five times. At the time of his execution, Mary Jean Pearle, the mother of the deceased children, came to witness. He smiled at her and told her hello, taunting her one last time before his death. He died at 9:40 p.m., which was approximately 22 minutes after the lethal dose began to seep into his bloodstream. Death by lethal injection has been used three times this year (including Battaglia) and they were all in Texas. According to the Supreme Court, prisoners can be executed if they have a clear understanding as to why they are facing the punishment and if they are cognizant of the fact that it is to be carried out on them. Battaglia was described as “intelligent, competent, not mentally ill and faking mental illness to avoid execution,” according to a state judge. This state judge, Robert Burns, announced that he was competent due to the fact that he had a master’s degree and he showed that he had the "motive and intellectual capability to maintain a deliberate ploy or ruse to avoid his execution."
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Do you think that he should have been granted a visit with his children in the first place since he was on probation for attacking his wife in ‘99?
My answer: If he would have attacked me, I would want him as far away from my children as possible. I would do everything in my power to get him away from them. However, I understand that you never truly know the motives of people. There was no way for Pearle to know that he was going to shoot their children.
Would you attend his execution if you were in Pearle’s shoes?
My answer: I wouldn’t attend his execution. He is disgusting. He doesn’t deserve anyone’s presence.
Do you personally believe that executing him was the right thing to do?
My answer: I am on the fence when it comes to executions. I believe that God is in charge of people’s lives, and we shouldn’t mess with that. On the other hand, if this happened to me, I wouldn’t want that terrible of a person to be alive on this earth, breathing the same air as me. Then again, maybe being alive, forced to reflect on the past, is worse than death. It's a very controversal topic, and everyone has different opinions.
Replies
Well done Emma! Be sure to capitalize words in your title that should be.
1. I feel like he should have been able to see his kids but I am not sure if he should have been able to live with them. It was a dangerous setting.
2. No, I would not attend his execution because he is a terrible person. He should die alone without people there.
3. I feel like sitting in jail is a worse torture than killing them. When you put them in jail they have to sit there and think about what they did.
I defiantly wouldn't want to live with him either if he hurt me, and I would be hesitant to letting him see the kids. I wouldn't go to the execution either because he doesn't deserve people there. Do you think executing him was the right thing in this case?
I think he should have gotten to see them, but usually when this happen they are supposed to be supervised by someone, if not the girl's mother than another family member or social worker. If I were Pearle I would want to be there to make sure he was good and dead so I wouldn't have to worry about him anymore. I'm not always for executions.. I think them rotting in jail is a much more efffective to get it through their head that what they did was wrong.. executions are kind of the easy way out.
You make a good point with the supervision part...There defiantly should have been someone there. I agree that being in jail is and can be more of a punishment than death itself simply because they are left to live with that sin.
No he should not have been given the right to see his daughters he attacked someone whos to say he wont do it again and he did and this time it was his dauters who ended up dead
No i woud no have attended his execution i would be able to think about anything i would probably end up develping some kind of wall in my brain to block off my memory
I can agree in this situation it was the right thing to do but in others it might not be
Absolutely not. I get it that its his children but still. What he did was so messed up that he deserved to be far away from the family. I wouldn't attend becuase I'd have better things to do and move on. It was the right thing to do. What he did was completely horrible and he deserved it. I honestly hate people that do that kind of stuff and we need less people like him in this world.
I know what you're saying about "moving on", but I think that it would be really hard to live with the death of your children, especially if they were murdered by the father. I don't think the mom can really move on, and that his death was probably closure. I agree. Some people in this world are crazy and we need less of that:(((
He should never have been granted a visit. Maybe a supervised visit in a public area, not an unsupervised one in his apartment. I would have, to see his face. It would have given a reminder that he can't do anything every again. I belive executing him was the right thing to do. I mean it would have been worse to let him rot in jail. EIther way he got what he deserved.
Why do you think the visit wasn't supervised? Is it the police's fault or whoever was in charge for not putting a social worker or someone else to watch?? Do you think their deaths could have been prevented?
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