Dad guilty of stomping death of 3-month-old son

We reported on this case earlier today. It only took the jury an hour to find dad TRAVIS JAMES MULLIS guilty of capital murder in the death of his 3-month-old son. I'm not prone to label every killer a monster, but I'll make an exception with this freak.

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/metropolitan/7467876.html

Father guilty in stomping death of 3-month-old son
By HARVEY RICE
HOUSTON CHRONICLE
March 11, 2011, 11:41AM

GALVESTON — A Galveston County jury took about an hour today to convict Travis James Mullis of capital murder for stomping his 3-month-old son to death more than two years ago.

Mullis, 24, sat with his hand over his mouth as he has for the entire five-day trial, betraying no emotion.

The defense asked that the jury be polled, and the judge asked each juror individually whether they agreed with the guilty verdict. All said yes.

Galveston County District Judge John Ellisor dismissed the seven women and five men on the jury and told them to return Monday for the penalty phase of the trial, where they will decide whether Mullis deserves the death penalty.

Mullis’s attorneys portrayed him as being duped by police into saying he intended to stomp his 3-month-old son to death, but prosecutors told jurors in closing arguments that even Mullis admitted that he was well treated.

"They were setting the wheels of justice in motion to kill him," defense attorney Gerald Bourque said as he urged jurors to convict Mullis, 24, of injury to a child rather than capital murder.

Defense attorney Robert Loper argued that Mullis never intended to kill his son, Alijah Mullis, but only wanted to make him stop crying.

Assistant Galveston County district attorneys Kayla Allen and Donna Cameron argued that Mullis was advised of his rights numerous times before freely admitting that he intended to kill his son and that he knew it was wrong. Cameron said he even complimented Philadelphia police officers who took written and videotaped statements from him on their courtesy.

"What he tells you is, ‘to stop him from crying, I knew I had to kill him," Allen told jurors. "That’s capital murder, plain and simple."

Cameron told the seven women and five men on the jury that after stomping on his son’s head, early Jan. 29, 2008, on the side of a Galveston road, "He just hurls him like garbage."

She quoted Mullis as saying, "I just wanted to get it away from me." Cameron said, "It was no longer a child it was evidence that linked him to the crime."

Finally she told the jury, "I want you to stand up for Alijah," asking jurors to find Mullis guilty of capital murder.