John Battaglia murders children while mom listens
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[SIZE=5]Witnesses say dad loving, caring father [/SIZE]
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The Associated Press [/SIZE]
[SIZE=3] DALLAS (AP) - An accountant convicted of killing his two young daughters was described by defense witnesses Thursday as a loving, caring father who appeared to be in a deep depression the day the girls were murdered.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=3]John Battaglia, 46, was convicted Wednesday of capital murder in the May shootings of Faith, 9, and Liberty, 6. Prosecutors say he shot the girls repeatedly while their horrified mother listened on the phone.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=3]Jurors hearing testimony during the punishment phase of the trial will determine whether Battaglia is sentenced to death or life in prison. They convicted Battaglia after 19 minutes of deliberating Wednesday.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=3]"I've formed the opinion that he was a wonderful, loving, caring father," testified Vida Hughes, a 68-year-old bookkeeper who shared office space with Battaglia in Dallas.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=3]She said the children often visited Battaglia's office, where he kept games and toys for them. His desk area was decorated with 40-50 pieces of the girls' crayon art and about a dozen photos of them.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=3]But Hughes also said she overheard several heated conversations between Battaglia and Mary Jane Pearle, his ex-wife and mother of the slain girls.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=3]On the day of the killings, Hughes testified, Battaglia passed by her and seemed depressed.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=3]"His body was there, but his mind wasn't there," she said. "He was not the same person. I've never seen him like that before."[/SIZE]
[SIZE=3]James Young, a friend of both Battaglia and Pearle, testified that he always thought Battaglia was a great family man, taking the girls to soccer games and helping them with school projects.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=3]"You'd be hard-pressed to find a father that would dedicate as much time as he dedicated to the kids," said Young.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=3]Prosecution witnesses painted a much darker picture of Battaglia on Wednesday, detailing his history of domestic abuse.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=3]They said that Battaglia gunned down the girls in his apartment in an act of "ultimate revenge" against Pearle, who was prosecuting him for violating a protective order stemming from an assault conviction.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=3]Michelle Ghetti, Battaglia's first wife, gave chilling testimony about stalking, threatened and brutally beaten by Battaglia.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=3]"You're just a nervous wreck, scared," said Ghetti, who was married to Battaglia from 1985 to 1987. "You didn't know what to expect."[/SIZE]
[SIZE=3]The abusive behavior started when Ghetti was pregnant with their daughter, Ghetti testified, and escalated after they separated in September 1986.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=3]Once barred from the house, Battaglia would tape her phone conversations and hide in bushes outside and jump in the garage when Ghetti came home, she said.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=3]He would appear at night, banging on windows in her home, Ghetti said. She told of one night when she woke up to see Battaglia standing over her, wanting sex. [/SIZE]
[SIZE=3]When she didn't take him back after he threatened suicide, Ghetti said he told her, 'I'll cut you up and I'll scar that face."[/SIZE]
[SIZE=3]When Ghetti wouldn't drop charges she filed in a 1987 incident, she said Battaglia beat her.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=3]"I'll never forget, just a huge smile on his face," Ghetti testified. [/SIZE]
[SIZE=3]She said she remembers him saying, "If I'm going back to jail, I'm going to make it well worth my while," then he punched her until she was unconscious, dislocating her jaw and breaking her nose.[/SIZE]
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"I will be buried in a spring loaded casket filled with confetti, and a future archaeologist will have one awesome day at work."
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Originally Posted by kimmer927
