John Battaglia Killed His Daughters for Revenge Against His Wife

John Battaglia Killed His Daughters for Revenge Against His Wife John David Battaglia shot and killed his two young daughters to get even with his ex-wife for reporting him to his  parole officer on a probation violation. A former Marine and CPA, John Battaglia was well liked by his friends and family. He appeared to be a good guy- fun spirited and charming. That was what MaryJean Pearle thought when she married him, but on their wedding night, Battaglias dark side began to emerge. At first,  he would fly off the handle and throw a few curse words and insults at his new wife. Pearle did not like it, but she put up with it  because they shared more good times together than bad. The following year  their first daughter, Faith, was born and then Liberty, three years later. Now with a family to consider, Pearle tried even harder to make the marriage work. An Idyllic Life With Hidden Secrets Living in an upscale neighborhood in Dallas, the small family seemed to have an idyllic life. But inside the home, Battaglias violent episodes began happening more often. He verbally abused Pearle, screaming obscenities at her and calling her vile names.   As time went on, the verbal attacks lasted longer and in an effort to keep her family together, Pearle endured it. The girls adored their dad, who had always been a gentle and loving father to them, even though his temper tantrums that he unleashed on Pearle continued to increase. Then one night, his anger switched from verbally attacking Pearle to going after her physically. She was able to get away and call 911. Battaglia was placed on probation and although he was allowed to see the girls, he was not allowed to enter their home. The separation gave Pearle a chance to think and it did not take long for her to realize that after seven years of abuse and having her children exposed to a lot of it, that it was time to file for a divorce. Christmas 1999 On Christmas day in 1999, Pearle allowed Battaglia to come into the home so he could visit with the girls. The visit ended in the two of them arguing and Battaglia violently attacking Pearle. He beat her with full force on the back of her head as she tried to protect herself from the blows. Battaglia was arrested and charged with assault. He was put on two years probation and was forbidden to have contact with Pearle. He could also not visit his daughters for 30 days. When the 30 days ended, normal weekly visitation started back up and so did the verbal assaults toward his ex-wife. Rage and Resentment The divorce came through the following August, but that did not deter Battaglia from leaving obscene and often threatening messages on his ex-wifes phone. As the threats progressed, Pearle became more fearful that one day her ex-husband might really act on what he was saying, but the thought that he would ever hurt the girls did not enter her mind. Visitation between the girls and their father continued. After a particularly frightening call from Battaglia in April 2001, Pearle decided it was time to get help. She contacted her ex-husbands probation officer and reported that he had been making threatening calls, which was a violation of his parole.   A few weeks later, on May 2, Battaglia found out that his parole had been revoked and that he was probably going to be arrested for the calls that he made to his ex-wife and for testing positive for marijuana.  He was assured by a police officer that the warrant would not be executed in front of his children and that he could make arrangements with his lawyer to peacefully turn himself in. He was scheduled to have the girls over for dinner that same night and Pearle,  not knowing that Battaglia had any knowledge that she had reported him to his parole officer, dropped off the girls with him at the normal meeting place. A Daughters Cry Later that evening, Pearle received a message from one of her daughters. When she returned the call, Battaglia put the call on speakerphone, and told his daughter Faith to ask her mother, Why do you want Daddy to go to jail? Then Pearle heard her daughter screaming, No, Daddy, please dont, dont do it. Gunshots  followed the childs cry and then Battaglia screamed, Merry (profanity) Christmas, then there were more gunshots. Mary Jean Pearle hung up the phone and frantically called 911. After shooting 9-year-old Faith three times and 6-year-old Liberty five times Battaglia went to his office where he left one more message, but this time to his dead daughters. Goodnight my little babies, he said. I hope youre resting in a different place. I love you, and I wish that you had nothing to do with your mother. She was evil and vicious and stupid. I love you dearly. Then he met up with a girlfriend and went to a bar and then to a tattoo shop and had two red roses tattooed on his left arm in honor of his daughters that he had just murdered. Battaglia was arrested as he left the tattoo shop at 2 a.m. It took four officers to restrain and handcuff him. Officers took a fully loaded revolver from Battaglias truck after his arrest. Inside his apartment, police found several firearms and the automatic pistol used in the shootings laying on the kitchen floor. Autopsy Faith had three gunshot wounds, including a shot to her back which severed her spinal cord and ruptured her aorta, a contact shot to the back of her head which exited her forehead, and a shot to her shoulder. Either of the first two shots would have been rapidly fatal. Six-year-old Liberty had four gunshot wounds and a graze wound to the top of her head. One shot entered her back, severed her spinal cord, went through a lung, and lodged in her chest. After losing about one-third of her blood, she received a contact shot to her head which passed through her brain, exited her face, and was immediately fatal. A History of Abuse is Revealed In less than 20 minutes of deliberation, the jury found Battaglia guilty of murder.   During the  punishment phase of the  trial, Battaglias first wife,  Michelle Gheddi, testified about the abuse she had suffered during their marriage that lasted from 1985 to 1987, and then after their divorce. Twice  Battaglia was physically violent toward Gheddis son from a previous marriage. Once when Ms. Gheddi was traveling with  Battaglia  in the car, he became angry at some other motorists and tried to reach for a gun he had in the car. They separated after an incident in which Battaglia struck Gheddi while she was holding their daughter Kristy, causing her to drop the child. After the separation, Battaglia stalked Gheddi,  watched her through the windows of her home, followed her in his car and somehow managed to tap her phone line.  He called Gheddis employers and creditors and made false statements about her. He threatened to kill himself and her, and once described to her in detail how he planned to cut her up and kill her with a knife. One night Gheddi woke up sometime after midnight to find her estranged husband standing over her bed and holding her shoulders down. He wanted to have sex, but she refused. Later she filed a police report about the incident. In January of 1987, Battaglia spent several days in jail after throwing a rock at Gheddi through her car window. After his release, things seemed to improve, but for only for a few months. Gheddi again filed charges against Battaglia after two more violent episodes.  Battaglia begged her to drop the charges, but she refused. Later that day, he approached Gheddi outside of her sons school. Smiling as he came toward her, he told her, If Im going back to jail, Im going to make it worth my while. He then beat Gheddi until she lost consciousness, breaking her nose and dislocating her jaw. After she got out of the hospital, he threatened to do the same to her son, so she moved to Louisiana At noon on the day that Faith and Liberty were killed,  Battaglia left a message on Gheddis  answering machine saying that maybe Pearl should lose her kids. He left another message later that evening for Kristy, telling her that he was sending her money for college and to use it wisely. Psychiatric Testimony Four forensic psychiatrists testified about  Battaglias mental state when he murdered his children.  They all agreed that Battaglia suffered from bipolar disorder, and all but one of the doctors thought that with the proper medication and under a controlled environment, he was a low risk for future criminal violence. All of the doctors testified that Battaglia knew what he was doing when he murdered his daughters. Death Sentence On May 1, 2002, after deliberating for close to seven hours, the jury agreed with the prosecutors who felt that the murders were a result of Battaglia seeking revenge because of his ex-wifes actions and that he could pose a possible threat in the future.  Battaglia, who was 46 years old at the time, was sentenced to death  by lethal injection. Best Little Friends Referring to his daughters as his best little friends, Battaglia told The Dallas Morning News that he did not feel like he had killed his daughters and that he was, a little bit in the blank about what happened. During the interview Battaglia showed no remorse for murdering his daughters,  instead placing the blame for his situation on his ex-wife, the prosecutor, the judge and the news media. He said that  Pearle was putting a lot of financial pressure on him and that after the divorce he had to work two jobs to keep up with his obligations.   On the night that he shot and killed his daughters, he said that Faith had told him that  Pearle was trying to have him arrested. Stressed out, exhausted, angered and wanting  Pearle to suffer, he did the one thing he knew would hurt her the most. He killed the children, although he says he has little memory of the actual event. Execution Halted Hours Before Battaglia was Scheduled to Die John Battaglia,  age 60,  was scheduled for lethal injection on Wednesday, March 30, 2016, for the revenge killing of his two young daughters, but the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals  put a halt to it. The court agreed with Battaglias attorney that he has a right to claim that he is too mentally incompetent and delusional to be executed investigated. Battaglia was eventually executed by lethal injection on Feb. 1, 2018, in the  Texas State Penitentiary at Huntsville, Texas.

List of Elements in the Lathanide Group

List of Elements in the Lathanide Group The lanthanides or lanthanoid series is a group of transition metals located on the periodic table in the first row (period) below the main body of the table. The lanthanides are commonly referred to as the rare earths, although many people group scandium and yttrium together with the rare earth elements. Its less confusing to call the lanthanides a subset of the rare earth metals. The Lanthanides Heres a list of the 15 elements that are lanthanides, which run from atomic number 57 (lanthanum or Ln) and 71 (lutetium or Lu): Lanthanum: atomic number 57 with symbol Ln Cerium: atomic number 58 with symbol Ce Praseodymium: atomic number 59Â  with symbol Pr Neodymium: atomic number 60 with symbol Nd Promethium: atomic number 61 with symbol Pm Samarium: atomic number 62 with symbol Sm Europium: atomic number 63 with symbol Eu Gadolinium: atomic number 64 with symbol Gd Terbium: atomic number 65 with symbol Tb Dysprosium: atomic number 66 with symbol Dy Holmium: atomic number 67 with symbol Ho Erbium: atomic number 68Â  with symbol Er Thulium: atomic number 69 with symbol Tm Ytterbium: atomic number 70 with symbol Yb Lutetium: atomic number 71 with symbol Lu Note sometimes that lanthanides are considered to be the elements following lanthanum on the periodic table, making it a group of 14 elements. Some references also exclude lutetium from the group because it has a single valence electron in the 5d shell. Properties of the Lanthanides Because the lanthanides are all transition metals, these elements share common characteristics associated with metals. In pure form, they are bright, metallic, and silvery in appearance. Because the elements can have a variety of oxidation states, they tend to form brightly colored complexes. The most common oxidation state for most of these elements is 3, although 2 and 4 are also generally stable. The metals are reactive, readily forming ionic compounds with other elements. Lanthanum, cerium, praseodymium, neodymium, and europium react with oxygen to form oxide coatings or tarnish after brief exposure to air. Because of their reactivity, pure lanthanides are stored in an inert atmosphere, such as argon, or are kept under mineral oil. Unlike other most other transition metals, the lanthanides tend to be soft, sometimes to the point where they can be cut with a knife. None of the elements occurs free in nature. Moving across the periodic table, the radius of the 3 ion of each successive element decreases. This phenomenon is called lanthanide contraction. Except for lutetium, all of the lanthanide elements are f-block elements, referring to the filling of the 4f electron shell. Although lutetium is a d-block element, its usually considered a lanthanide because it shares so many chemical properties with the other elements in the group. Although the elements are called rare earth metals, they arent particularly scarce in nature. However, its difficult and time-consuming to isolate them from each other from their ores, adding to their value. Lanthanides are valued for their use in electronics, particularly television and monitor displays. They are used in lighters, lasers, superconductors, to color glass, to make materials phosphorescent, and to control nuclear reactions. A Note About Notation The chemical symbol Ln may be used to refer to any lanthanide in general, not specifically the element lanthanum. This may be confusing, especially in situations where lanthanum itself isnt considered a member of the group!