A Texas man who had waived his right to appeal his death sentence was executed Tuesday evening for killing his 3-month-old baby more than 16 years ago, one of five executions set in the United States in the coming week.
Travis Mullis, 38, died at 7:01 p.m. CDT after receiving a fatal injection in Huntsville’s state penitentiary. He was sentenced to death for stomping on his son Alijah in January 2008.
Mullis was the fourth convict executed this year in Texas, the nation’s busiest capital penalty jurisdiction. Another execution was carried out in Missouri on Tuesday evening, while Oklahoma and Alabama executions were slated for Thursday. South Carolina executed on Friday.
Mullis, who was 21 at the time and lived in Brazoria County, allegedly went to nearby Galveston with his son following a quarrel with his girlfriend. Mullis had parked his automobile and sexually raped his son. Mullis began strangling the infant after he began crying hysterically, investigators say, before pulling him out of the car and stamping on his skull.
The infant’s body was later discovered on the roadside. Mullis escaped the state but was apprehended after surrendering to officers in Philadelphia.
Mullis’ execution took place after one of his attorneys, Shawn Nolan, stated that he did not intend to file any late appeals to save the inmate’s life. Nolan also stated in a statement Tuesday afternoon that Texas would execute a “redeemed man” who has always accepted responsibility for doing “an awful crime.”
“He never had a shot in life because his parents abandoned him and his adoptive father physically abused him beginning at the age of three. During his decade and a half on death row, he worked tirelessly on his redemption. And he accomplished it. Travis, who Texas sought to kill, is no longer alive. “Rest in Peace, TJ,” Nolan said.
Mullis denied an earlier invitation to call his attorney from a holding cell outside the death chamber, according to Hannah Haney, a spokesperson for the Texas Department of Criminal Justice. His lawyers also did not submit a clemency petition to the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles.
Mullis stated in a February letter to Houston-based U.S. District Judge George Hanks that he had no desire to further challenge his case. Mullis has already accepted responsibility for his son’s death, saying, “His punishment fit the crime.”
During Mullis’ trial, prosecutors described him as a “monster” who exploited others, was deceptive, and refused medical and psychological treatment.
Mullis and his different attorneys have been at odds on whether to appeal his conviction since 2011. Mullis had previously requested that his appeals be waived, only to later alter his mind.
During a June 2023 hearing, Nolan told the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals that state courts in Texas erred in concluding Mullis was mentally competent when he forfeited his right to challenge his case almost a decade ago.
Nolan told the appeals court that Mullis has been treated for “profound mental illness” since he was three years old, was sexually molested as a youngster, and is “severely bipolar,” which led him to reconsider appealing.
Natalie Thompson, then of the Texas Attorney General’s Office, told the appeals court that Mullis understood what he was doing and could disregard his lawyers’ advice “even if he’s suffering from mental illness.”
The appeals court upheld Hank’s 2021 finding, which determined Mullis “repeatedly competently chose to waive review” of his death sentence.
The United States Supreme Court has forbidden the death penalty for intellectually handicapped people but not for those suffering from significant mental illnesses.
If the remaining executions in Texas, Alabama, and Oklahoma go ahead as planned, it will be the first time in more than 20 years—since July 2003—that five were held in seven days, according to the nonprofit Death Penalty Information Center, which takes no position on capital punishment but has criticized how states carry out executions.
The first took place on Friday when South Carolina executed convict Freddie Owens. Also on Tuesday, Marcellus Williams was executed in Missouri. Alan Miller and Emmanuel Littlejohn are expected to be executed on Thursday in Alabama and Oklahoma.