On Thursday, a 62-year-old man who killed his two girls was executed in Huntsville Unit Prison in Texas, while his former wife looked on.
And to make matters worse, according to local media and prison officials, in a final message before his death, John Battaglia smiled at his former wife and said: "No, well, hi Mary Jean, I'll see y'all later."
He is then reported to have said, 'go ahead' before closing his eyes and then asking 'Am I still alive?'. He then sighed and said. 'I feel it'.
In May 2001, Battaglia shot dead his daughters, Faith, who was nine, and Liberty, who was six, while their mother, Mary Jean Pearle, listened on the phone, unable to help.
On the day of the murders, Battaglia - a former Marine - had learned there was a warrant out for his arrest after he had violated his probation, which he was serving after being convicted of assaulting his estranged wife.
That evening, he picked up his daughters for a regular custody visit and texted Pearle with a message saying one of them had called for her.
According to The Mirror, Pearle called Battaglia. He put her on speakerphone, and told Faith to ask her mother, 'Mommy, why do you want Daddy to have to go to jail?'.
Moments later, she then cried out: "No, daddy, please don't do it."
Pearle screamed for her daughters to run, and then heard gunshots ring out as Battaglia shouted, 'Merry fucking Christmas'.
Pearle hung up and immediately called 911. After the shooting, Battaglia went to a nearby tattoo parlour. He had two roses inked on his arm before he was arrested by police, who also confiscated 16 firearms from the house.
He was put on trial for the murders of his daughters in 2002 and, after the jury deliberated for 19 minutes, he was convicted. On April 30, 2002, he was sentenced to death and placed on death row.
Battaglia was initially scheduled to be executed on March 30, 2016, but a stay was issued by the Fifth US Circuit Court Of Appeals in order to examine Battaglia's lawyers' claim that their client was not mentally competent and so should not be executed.
He was then given an execution date of December 7, 2016, but five days before the Texas Court Of Criminal Appeals issued another stay of execution over concerns about his mental health.
On September 20, 2017, the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals dismissed Battaglia's claim of mental incompetence and new date of execution was set for February 1, 2018. He was executed by lethal injection and it took about 20 minutes for him to die.
Featured Image Credit: The Dallas Morning NewsTopics: US News