By Sarah Mervosh
The Dallas Morning News
DALLAS — John Battaglia, the former accountant who murdered his daughters as their mother listened helplessly on the phone in 2001, appeared in a Dallas County courtroom Monday for a judge to consider whether he’s mentally fit to be put to death. Battaglia, 61, is set to be executed Dec. 7.
But first, a judge must rule on his mental state. Under Texas law, an inmate is not competent to be executed if he does not understand why he’s being executed or that execution is imminent.
Battaglia shot his daughters, 9-year-old Faith and 6-year-old Liberty, inside his Deep Ellum loft in 2001. He had arranged a call with his ex-wife, who listened on the phone as the older girl begged for mercy.
“No, Daddy! Don’t do it!” Faith pleaded, before the phone line exploded with gunfire.
The act flung Battaglia into infamy as people in Dallas and around the nation struggled to comprehend why any father would shoot his children — and then go get two roses tattooed on his arm in their memory. A Dallas County jury sentenced him to death in 2002.
Prosecutors believe Battaglia has enough understanding to go forward with the execution, but his defense attorneys argue that his mental illness and “delusions” should spare him. His execution was first postponed in March to give the courts time to sort out this issue.
Battaglia wore square glasses and an orange-and-white striped jumpsuit during his court appearance Monday. He listened for much of the day, but occasionally laughed, whispered loudly to his lawyer or turned around to look at spectators in the gallery. At one point, he shouted out that it was all a “conspiracy.”
Three psychologists testified that Battaglia has delusional disorder, a mental illness characterized by having unshakable beliefs in things that aren’t true. They disagreed on whether he has bipolar disorder and narcissistic personality disorder.
The psychologists all determined that Battaglia is incompetent for execution -- but for different reasons.
Dr. Diane M. Mosnik, a clinical psychologist who spent 16 hours with Battaglia to test and interview him for the defense, said Battaglia meets the first criteria for competency: He knows he has an execution date scheduled. But she said he fails the second: he doesn’t understand why he’s being put to death.
Battaglia believes he’s being executed not because he shot his children, but because of a conspiracy to “quiet him,” one that involves everyone from the attorneys and judges in his case to religious figures such as the pope, Mosnik said.
Two other psychologists testified that Battaglia does indeed understand the fact that he has been convicted of killing his children. But he has delusions that prevent him from having a “rational understanding” of his involvement in the crime, according to Dr. Timothy Proctor, who was called by the state, and Dr. Thomas G. Allen, who was called by the court.
For that reason, they say, he’s incompetent for execution.
It will be up to the judge to decide whether the “rational understanding” rule applies.
State District Judge Robert Burns pushed the psychologists for more information about whether Battaglia, an intelligent man who once passed the CPA exam, could be feigning mental illness to skirt the death penalty.
Two psychologists testified that Battaglia was not faking it.
Burns also questioned whether having delusions is enough to make someone incompetent.
“People that commit heinous offenses are delusional in one way or the other. Would you agree?” the judge asked Proctor, the state’s psychologist. “I mean a mass murderer is going to have a delusional belief of why that mass murder is a good thing.”
Proctor said the judge was “hitting the nail on the head of the fine distinction we’re talking about.” He said it’s one thing if an inmate tells a story to make themselves feel better; it’s another if the story comes as part of a mental illness that has actually altered their reality.
Testimony continues Monday afternoon. A ruling is not expected until at least Tuesday, when the judge could rule from the bench, or wait to make a decision.