Battaglia v. Texas

In 2002, Appellant, John David Battaglia, was convicted and sentenced to death for shooting and killing his two young daughters in his apartment while they were talking to their mother on speaker phone. In 2016, shortly before his execution date, Battaglia filed a motion claiming he was "incompetent to be executed." Although three mental health experts believed Battaglia to be incompetent, the trial court found most credible the fourth expert who concluded that Battaglia was competent to be executed. Battaglia appealed the trial court’s decision to the Court o Criminal Appeals, which stayed the execution to determine whether the trial court abused its discretion. After a thorough review of the record, the Court affirmed the trial court’s decision finding Battaglia competent to be executed. The stay of execution was lifted, and the case remanded to the trial court to set Battaglia’s execution date. View "Battaglia v. Texas" on Justia Law