No death penalty for dad convicted of murdering two young son, sending photo of dead son to mom (Graham, Texas)

Dad is identified as GABRIEL ARMANDARIZ.

According to this article from 2011, the couple (which had never been married) were scheduled for a custody hearing the week after the murders. So Daddy apparently had some sort of "rights" even before then. We also hear--no surprise--that he was abusive to the mother before they broke up. Another huge red flag here: Daddy had kept the boys and refused to return them to the mom for two whole months before the murders. And of course the authorities did nothing.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2993372/Father-murdered-toddler-son-baby-boy-sending-graphic-image-dead-child-NOT-death.html

He will have a very miserable life': Father who murdered his two young sons and sent a picture of dead child to their mother will NOT be put to death
Gabriel Armandariz, 32, of Graham, Texas, was sentenced to life in prison without parole on Thursday
He was convicted last month for strangling his two sons, Gatlin, two, and Luke, eight months, in April 2011
Hours before killing them he sent text messages to his ex and the mother of the boys, Lauren Smith, threatening to kill them
He then sent her a photo of what appeared to be the youngest boy, Luke, dead and dangling from a closet ceiling with a cloth around his neck'
After receiving the photo of her son, Smith called police who found the boys dead and wrapped in a tarp in the crawl space under Armandariz's home
He will be transferred to the Texas Department of Corrections to serve his sentence

By Myriah Towner and Chris Spargo For Dailymail.com
Published: 11:29 EST, 13 March 2015 | Updated: 14:13 EST, 13 March 2015

A young father who strangled his two sons and then sent a picture of a dead body to their mother will not face execution.

Gabriel Armandariz, 32, of Graham, Texas was sentenced to life in prison without parole on Thursday at Young County Court.

Armandariz killed his two sons, Gatlin, two, and Luke, who was just eight-months-old in April 2011 before sending a string of chilling text messages to their mother, Lauren Smith.

One of the messages included a graphic image that appeared to show Luke dead, dangling from the closet held by cloth attached to his neck.

While he will not be put to death, defense attorneys insist he will have a miserable life in prison.

Armandariz was convicted of the murders on February 27 which was followed by four weeks of testimony that the court heard before deciding his fate, according to the Graham Leader.

The jury decided to spare him his life after stating there were mitigating circumstances to not execute him.

The father was deemed too dangerous to society to live by prosecutors from the attorney general's office, according to the Star-Telegram.

Earlier in the trial, prosecutor Tom Cloudt said: 'Gabriel is a lying, manipulating baby killer, and the evidence has shown this. 'Luke is dead, and Gabriel is trying to get a beer. Gabriel is not concerned.'