John David Battaglia Jr.[4] (August 2, 1955 – February 1, 2018)[2][5] was an American convicted murderer who was executed by the state of Texas for killing his two young daughters in May 2001 in an act of "ultimate revenge" against his estranged ex-wife, Mary Jeane Pearle, who had separated from him after his numerous instances of assault and violence.

He moved to Dallas because his father lived there, and he took night classes to become a Certified Public Accountant (CPA) and did modeling.

[3] The woman who would become his second wife, Mary Jean Pearle, resided in Highland Park, Texas, in the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex.

[17] His two daughters with Pearle, Mary Faith and Liberty Mae Battaglia,[18][19] were students at John S. Bradfield Elementary School in Highland Park.

[22] At Christmas 1999, Battaglia was on a visit to see Faith and Liberty when he attacked Pearle in a domestic violence incident.

Pearle stated that he previously doted upon them, and until he killed the girls, she did not believe he was willing to harm them despite his earlier domestic violence towards adult women.

[10] Jacquielynn Floyd, a columnist for The Dallas Morning News, stated that "He fooled people into believing he was a devoted father.

"[24] On May 2, 2001, Pearle left her daughters with Battaglia for a planned dinner at the mall, but he instead took them into his apartment[14] in the Adam Hats Lofts [25] in Deep Ellum in Dallas.

[13] After the killings, Battaglia left a message on the answering machine in the girls' bedroom:[28] "Good night my little babies.

[14] He was apprehended shortly afterward, getting into a fistfight with the arresting police officers, which left him with a black eye.

[14] Texas authorities stated that Battaglia killed his daughters out of retaliation because Pearle had complained to his probation officer.

[31] Battaglia's capital murder trial began on April 22, 2002, and was held at the Frank Crowley Courts Building in Dallas.

On December 2, 2016, the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals issued a stay of execution for Battaglia due to questions concerning his mental competency.

[39] On September 20, 2017, the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals dismissed Battaglia's claim of mental incompetence.

[41] Before making the challenges of mental capacity, Battaglia read about relevant legal cases at Polunsky Unit's law library.

Stephen Michaud of the Dallas Observer wrote: "never in memory have the Park Cities been jolted by such unspeakable, and apparently similar, family homicides as the three most recent killings, all of which occurred in a 25-month cluster.

As a result of the crime, Toby Goodman sponsored a bill in the Texas State Legislature that would ask judges to consider history of domestic violence when considering whether or not parental visits with children would be supervised.

[46] Dallas County Family Court Judge David Finn had dismissed Battaglia's assault charge in a previous hearing.

The year after the killings, he resigned his position as a judge and ran against incumbent Bill Hill for election as Dallas County district attorney.

[47] Pearle campaigned against Finn, stating that his ruling kept Battaglia out of prison, which allowed the father to kill his daughters.