A US appeals court has halted the planned execution of a Texas man who killed his two daughters at his Dallas apartment while the girls' mother listened on the phone, hearing the gunshots and her children's screams.
The US Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit said a lawyer for death-row inmate John Battaglia had abandoned him for part of his appeal process and the offender should have his execution halted as a result.
The move came hours before the 60-year-old was set to receive a lethal injection at the state's death chamber in Huntsville on Wednesday.
Battaglia's lawyers also launched last-minute appeals on other grounds, arguing he should be spared because he suffers from bipolar disorder, which was not properly considered in sentencing.
"Mr Battaglia has presented evidence ... that his delusions make him not understand the reasoning behind his execution," they said in a US Supreme Court filing.
The appeals court also said a lawyer who should have represented Battaglia in state mental competency hearings did not.
Battaglia had a history of beating women and had been divorced from his wife, Mary Jean Pearl, for about a year when he fatally shot their two daughters, Mary Faith, nine, and Liberty, six, in May 2001, prosecutors said.
He left a message on his wife's phone. When she called back, he put the phone on speaker and demanded that his wife speak with daughter Mary Faith.
The daughter then asked: "Mommy, why do you want Daddy to go to jail?" and could be heard a few seconds later saying: "No, Daddy, please don't, don't do it."
Then the mother heard gunshots and screams.
The dead girls were found in Battaglia's apartment, both shot multiple times.
After the shooting, Battaglia went to a bar with his girlfriend and was arrested shortly afterward at a tattoo parlour where he was getting rose tattoos to remember his daughters.
A jury took about 20 minutes to convict him.
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