Man Faces Execution for Infant Son Murder
Man Faces Execution for Infant Son Murder
Travis Mullis, a 38-year-old Texas man with a long history of mental illness, faced execution Tuesday evening for killing his 3-month-old son, Alijah, more than 16 years ago.
Authorities condemned Mullis for stomping the infant to death in January 2008. He received a lethal injection at the state penitentiary in Huntsville.
According to investigators, Mullis, then 21, drove to Galveston with his son after a fight with his girlfriend. After parking his car, he sexually assaulted his son.
When the infant began to cry uncontrollably, Mullis strangled him before removing him from the car and stomping on his head.
Authorities later discovered Alijah’s body on the side of the road. Mullis fled Texas but surrendered to police in Philadelphia.
Mullis’ execution proceeded as his attorneys did not file any final appeals or a clemency petition with the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles.
In a letter to U.S. District Judge George Hanks in February, Mullis expressed his desire not to challenge his case further, stating he believed his punishment fit the crime.
Galveston County District Attorney Jack Roady, who prosecuted Mullis, declined to comment before the execution.
During the trial, prosecutors labeled Mullis a “monster” who manipulated others, was deceitful, and refused medical and psychiatric help.
Since his conviction in 2011, Mullis clashed with various attorneys regarding his appeals, often requesting to waive them before changing his mind.
Mullis’ attorney, Shawn Nolan, argued in June 2023 that Texas state courts erred in determining Mullis had been mentally competent when he waived his appeal rights nearly a decade earlier.
Despite his mental illness, the appeals court upheld the ruling that Mullis.
Man Faces Execution for Infant Son Murder
-AP News
