Feb. 1 Execution Date for Texas Man Who Killed Daughters

HUNTSVILLE, Texas (AP) — An execution date has been set for a Dallas man convicted of fatally shooting his two young daughters more than 16 years ago while their mother listened helplessly over the phone.

Texas Department of Criminal Justice spokesman Jason Clark says the agency has received court documents setting John Battaglia for lethal injection Feb. 1.

The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals ruled in September that the 62-year-old Battaglia is competent to be executed. The appeals court had halted Battaglia's scheduled December 2016 execution to review his competency after his attorney had appealed a lower court judge's ruling that Battaglia was mentally competent.

Battaglia was convicted of capital murder for the May 2001 deaths of his 6- and 9-year-old daughters at his Dallas apartment.