Travis James Mullis, a 38-year-old man convicted for the brutal murder of his 3-month-old son, was executed by lethal injection on Tuesday evening at the Texas State Penitentiary located in Huntsville.
Mullis was officially pronounced dead at 7:01 p.m. CDT, becoming the fourth person executed in Texas this year. His execution was notably marked by a brief delay as prison technicians worked to find a suitable vein for the lethal injection, according to AP News.
In his final moments, Mullis expressed gratitude to those who had supported him, including prison staff and his spiritual adviser, who offered a prayer.
“I’d like to thank everyone that accepted me for the man I became during my best and worst moments,” Mullis said, strapped to a gurney.
Mullis also offered that he, “took the legal steps to expedite to include assisted suicide, I don’t regret this decision, to legally expedite this process. I do regret the decision to take the life of my son.” He also took the time to apologize to the child’s mother before the series of lethal injections, where he then closed his eyes and eventually took his last breath.
Mullis’s path to execution was riddled with legal difficulties, throughout both his arrest and trial.
Following his conviction in 2011, he had a tumultuous relationship with his lawyers and legal team, often fluctuating between wanting to pursue appeals and waiving them entirely. Ultimately, Mullis chose not to appeal his death sentence, claiming that he accepted responsibility for murdering his infant son.
The murder of his son, named Alijah, occurred in January 2008 under horrific circumstances.
After driving to Galveston following an argument with his girlfriend, Mullis first assaulted his son. When the infant cried, he strangled him before fatally stomping on his head, according to arrest records and court documents from Galveston County.
Authorities later discovered Alijah’s body discarded by the roadside, prompting a manhunt that ended with Mullis’s surrender to law enforcement in Philadelphia.
At his trial, prosecutors painted Mullis as a manipulative figure who had rejected help for his psychological issues. While his defense team highlighted his troubled upbringing, including instances of abuse and mental health challenges, the court ultimately focused on the severity of his crime and the age of the child when sentencing Mullis to death.
Mullis’s execution comes amid a wave of scheduled executions across the U.S., with five planned within a week, a rare occurrence in recent years, per AP News.
According to the Texas Department of Criminal Justice, the state currently has four more executions scheduled. The soonest is scheduled for October 1, when Garcia Glen White will be put to death for his involvement in the stabbing deaths of twin sisters Bernette and Annette Edwards in their Houston home in December of 1989.
