UPDATE: Travis “TJ” Mullis
MULLIS CONVICTED IN STOMPING DEATH OF INFANT SON
from the article by Harvey Rice – The Houston Chronicle
Few were surprised when a Galveston County jury took only an hour on Friday to convict Travis James Mullis of capital murder for stomping his 3-month-old son to death more than two years ago.
As the verdict was read, Mullis, 24, sat with his hand over his mouth, as he had for most of the five-day trial, betraying no emotion.
The defense asked that the jury be polled, and state District Judge John Ellisor asked each juror whether he or she agreed with the guilty verdict. Each said yes.
The judge instructed the seven women and five men on the jury to return Monday for the penalty phase of the trial. They will decide whether Mullis deserves the death penalty or life in prison without parole.
“I’m glad it turned out the way it did,” said Darrell Nichols, whose 8-year-old stepdaughter Mullis allegedly tried to molest the morning he killed his son.
Nichols said he hopes the jury returns the death penalty, although he said execution is in some ways too light a punishment.
“He needs to sit in prison and think about what he’s done,” Nichols said.
The rapid verdict was expected because Mullis had so clearly described his crime and his intent to kill his son, Alijah Mullis,
in the early morning of Jan. 29, 2008, on a Galveston Island roadside.
Mullis fled to Philadelphia, where he gave written and videotaped statements to police on Feb. 1, 2008.
Soon after convening in the jury room, jurors asked to see Mullis’ written statement.
In his statement, he says he knew what he was doing when he stomped on his son’s head, he knew it was wrong and that he intended to kill the child.
He vividly describes trying to choke his son to stop him from crying, putting Alijah’s head on the pavement and stomping until he felt the skull give way, then flinging the body to the roadside.
“I thought to myself, the only way I could stop him from crying was to kill him,” he says.
Mullis’ attorneys, Robert Loper and Gerald Bourque, didn’t put on a single witness to speak to the jury on Mullis’ behalf. They had spent much of the time leading up to the trial battling their client, who tried to stop the two veteran attorneys from filing motions challenging the death penalty.
‘Wheels … in motion’The defense attorneys portrayed Mullis in closing arguments Friday as being duped by police into saying he intended to kill
his son, arguing that he intended only to stop Alijah from crying. In the face of the impact of their client’s statements, they focused on persuading jurors to convict him of injury to a child rather than capital murder.
“They were setting the wheels of justice in motion to kill him,” Bourque said of the authorities who interrogated Mullis.
Bourque and Loper suggested that the two Philadelphia detectives who questioned Mullis were getting instructions from the Galveston County District Attorney’s Office on what sort of answers they needed from him to get the death penalty.
Prosecutors Kayla Allen and Donna Cameron pointed out 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 Mullis even complimented the courtesy of Philadelphia police officers who took written and videotaped statements from him.
The two prosecutors kept referring to Mullis’ own words in their closing arguments.
“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.”
She recalled Mullis’ statement that he stomped on Alijah’s head three or four times.
“He didn’t stop until he felt baby Alijah’s skull collapse,” she said. “If that’s not enough, he picks up baby Alijah, his child who
he has just stomped to death, and he throws it into a grassy area because ‘I wanted to get it away from me.’”
“He calls his 3-month-old son, an ‘it,’?” Allen said.
‘Wheels … in motion’
The defense attorneys portrayed Mullis in closing arguments Friday as being duped by police into saying he intended to kill his son, arguing that he intended only to stop Alijah from crying. In the face of the impact of their client’s statements, they focused on persuading jurors to convict him of injury to a child rather than capital murder.
“They were setting the wheels of justice in motion to kill him,” Bourque said of the authorities who interrogated Mullis.
Bourque and Loper suggested that the two Philadelphia detectives who questioned Mullis were getting instructions from the Galveston County District Attorney’s Office on what sort of answers they needed from him to get the death penalty.
Prosecutors Kayla Allen and Donna Cameron pointed out 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 Mullis even complimented the courtesy of Philadelphia police officers who took written and videotaped statements from him.
The two prosecutors kept referring to Mullis’ own words in their closing arguments.
“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.”
She recalled Mullis’ statement that he stomped on Alijah’s head three or four times.
“He didn’t stop until he felt baby Alijah’s skull collapse,” she said. “If that’s not enough, he picks up baby Alijah, his child who he has just stomped to death, and he throws it into a grassy area because ‘I wanted to get it away from me.’”
“He calls his 3-month-old son, an ‘it,’?” Allen said.
Assault Attempt
When Philadelphia Detective Robert Hesser read Mullis’ written statement to jurors Wednesday, he left out a paragraph in which Mullis says he asked the 8-year-old girl to pull down her pants a few hours before killing his son.
Although the paragraph was omitted, it was clear that Mullis had done something improper with the girl. Jurors were never told that a charge of enticing a child is pending against Mullis in Brazoria County.
Mullis said in his statement that his worry about the consequences of his misconduct prompted him to leave the trailer in Alvin where he and Alijah’s mother, Caren Kohberger, had been taken in by Nichols, his wife Michelle, and her 8-year-old daughter. Nichols said Friday that he felt betrayed.
Kohberger forced Mullis to take Alijah with him, fearing that he otherwise would not return, Mullis said.
Mullis drove to a remote section of Seawall Boulevard in Galveston, where he parked to ponder his misconduct. Mullis, who has a history of mental illness, began shouting to himself and woke his son. His son began crying and was dead within minutes.
The penalty phase of Travis Mullis’ trial will continue through this week, and probably into early next week too. One of the things that came out during this hearing was the discovery of seminal fluid in or on Baby Alijah – proof positive that Mullis sexually assaulted his own son before murdering him.
The defense has responded with a lot of psychobabble about poor Travis’ crappy childhood, and how it led to him being unable to form normal attachments with other people. One of his supposed childhood traumas? Mom was morbidly obese. Yep, his mother was so heavy it ruined his childhood.
Sigh…
After the penalty phase is over, the jury will deliberate whether Travis Mullis deserves to die for his crimes, or if enough mitigating factors exist to make life without parole a more appropriate punishment. Both sentences have their own charms, but because what Mullis did to little Alijah was so heinous, and he showed so little remorse at the time of the offense, it seems to me that the death penalty is a foregone conclusion.
We Here At PYSIH Would Like To Thank ‘Crooked to the core’ For Making Us Aware Of The Verdict. If It Wasn’t For His Comments In Both The ‘Travis “TJ” Mullis’ Story And The ‘Caren Kholberger’ Story, We Might Have Missed It Completely.
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Although both sentences have their charms, I rate the death penalty as more charming in a fast lane to hell kind of way. Otherwise we have to wait for someone to shank him, and that just seems to take too long these days.
I’m more of an immediate gratification kind of girl.
I’m kinda hoping he’ll start crying, and someone will stomp on his head.
All the stories bother me, but some more than others. This was one of them. This is a human the world would be better off without. I don’t care how he goes, just get him gone.
Evidently he deserves the needle, and I hope he gets it. There’s not really a way to redeem yourself from being a child-molesting toddler-murderer.
Anyway, running from the cops aside, I award him a perverse kind of respect for admitting everything, once caught. It’s a refreshingly honest change from the pitiable lies, excuses and pathetic pleading that the content of this site usually start gushing. He owned up to his crimes, told the police everything the prosecution needed to know, and seems to be trying to advance the death penalty case by sabotaging his own attorneys.
This, I think, is the way criminals ought to behave; do the crime, do the time, don’t whine. I think everyone, including him, will be happy when he’s dead.
Bloody Hell…….. How can someone look at such a CUTE smiley face like that baby’s and want to kill the Baby!! Some minds are just EVIL!! what a bastard.
that baby is adorable, how can anyone do that? I will never understand. Although I am for the death penalty, jail might be better for him to suffer for years. If he does get the death penalty they should let someone stop on his head.
Either way he’ll get killed or at least beaten damn near to death. The general population won’t be able to get to him if he’s on Death Row. I don’t know which I’d prefer to happen, date with the needle or date with Bubba everyday lol.
Good. Hope he rots.
Would it be so wrong for me to say that I actually whooped out loud when I read this? I’m so pleased that in spite of the “history of mental illness” that was mentioned, it was not used as a cop- out for a change. I’m so sick of reading about these fucktards who murder their tiny, little, helpless children in cold blood and get off lightly because they’re “a little off” upstairs. If MORE arseholes were executed for killing their babies, fewer arseholes would do it. Ipso- fucken- facto.
The only outcome I can perceive as having any justice at all is if he died in the same manner in which baby Alijah did….but, I know that’s not possible. Crimes of this nature are so incredibly evil and depraved it defies reason. There would never be any situation in which this type of behavior is justifiable, mental illness included. I don’t care if he’s mentally ill, he deserves death in the most horrendous way possible. The needle, gas chamber, electric chair…etc. are too good for this man. He deserves pain and agony, he should be forced to feel that sense of helplessness that he inflicted upon his own child. He deserves every bit of pain he inflicted to be rendered onto him. Since he won’t experience that here on this Earth, I can only hope that he will spend in an eternity in hell suffering the agonizing pain he deserves.
What an ugly mother fucker. How could such an ugly scumbag fuck make such a beautiful baby and then stomp on his head?!!! Ughhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh
Burn in hell you POS
RIP Alijah – you are officially an angel now.
Caren Kohberger when will she be charged? she is being charged right? i still wonder why the baby was not fully dressed and missing a sock…i think something happened prior to her giving the baby over to her penis..
I used to think that the death penalty was barbaric, and that we could only become better as humans if we were more humane with each other. I have learned through living and becoming a mother that the world is not getting more humane, that there are those people who are beyond any alternate punishment and ultimately the world is far better off with out them in it.
I also was happy with this verdict. The world needs to rid itself of child abusers and killers, like the vermin they are.
Someday, perhaps we won’t need a death penalty. But for now we have to protect our innocents, and that means removing the monsters. It’s horrible, but it’s so necessary in light of our specie’s tendency towards creative cruelty. :(
I used to strongly oppose the death penalty as well many years ago, and was nothing short of a bleeding heart liberal 100 %. Living life, becoming more and more aware of the evil that lurks in this world, and becoming a mother changed everything for me, and now I’m pretty much a hard core mostly conservative/independent. Though, I do have some very strong liberal opinions on other issues, and tend to be a bleeding heart where it concerns people worthy of it.
People who harm children are not worthy of it, and have effectively made it impossible for me to wish anything other than death upon them. Either smoke them quick, or ship them off to some remote island where they can all waste one another as they see fit. I have no use for baby rapers, child killers, molesters, etc….they are the lowest of the lowest, and are simply unworthy of the gift of life.
I’ve never been against the death penalty. In my opinion some crimes are unacceptable and the perpetrators of those crimes rescind their right to live the very moment they choose to cross the line. I have no sympathy nor understanding for child molesters, serial killers, sociopaths, or human monsters in general.
Some people, by their very actions, simply do not deserve to live.
The only worry I have about the death penalty lies with the legal system. It has proven itself to be somewhat flawed, as people who’ve later been proven innocent of the crime they were convicted of have been executed. Needless to say, this is not the way it should be. It also raises the question of which inmates on death row right now should maybe not be there. The death penalty should be used only when there is absolutely no doubt what so ever of the guilt of the perpetrator. But how to guarantee this, or somehow ensure no-one will ever fry for a crime they didn’t commit, is a tough nut to crack.
And I’m not smart enough to have the answer.
he needs to be in the general prison population, they LOVE inmates like him. Or so i have heard. i only wish i could witness his prison life on closed circuit tv, for friday night popcorn and “movie time”
The Death Penalty is too quick and over he needs years of suffering.
tax money well spent on his incarceration.
I’m sure our dollars are paying for his attorney, too, which also sucks. What I wouldn’t mind, however, is my tax dollars going to pay for his medical care b/c Bubba and all his buddies rode him hard and then stomped on his head a alittle. Nope, wouldn’t mind paying for that AT ALL.
My 2 month old smiles, laughs, and coos at his daddy. Daddy melts and smiles, laughs, and coos back. I wonder if little baby Alijah smiled and coo’ed at his daddy? I bet he did and it didn’t make a bit of difference to this trash…these wastes of skin are all subhuman and I cannot fathom (thank God) what thoughts run through their depraved brains.
And what the hell was wrong with the mother?? She let him take the baby “to make sure he would come back” when he had just been accused of molesting a child and had a history of mental illness? (Of which I’m sure she was aware, my ex had mental illness to and you can’t really hide that from the person you’re sleeping with!) She deserves negligent homicide or, at the least, manslaughter with depraved indifference.
There is no reason to waste valuable funds keeping this thing behind bars or in a mental institution, or anywhere. It would cost a lot less money to just strap it into the chair and shove a needle into its arm, hence sending it off to the dark side where it belongs. I suggest that the prison not give it a final meal request, either. What for? It doesn’t deserve to eat any valuable food. There are children starving to death in some countries who would be better served by receiving it. Just get rid of this baby killing creature now.
I say throw him in GP and tell Bubba and his buddies what TJ did. Then we won’t have to worry about spending money on the medicine or the needle. Just a suggestion though. Although I’m sure there are lots of fathers at the “Big House” that would love to see their children and to hear what this SOB did would put them over the edge. What does a man with Life W/O parole have to lose?Nothing. I’d be one that would write to one of the most hardened criminals and send a care package in order to get TJ a welcome to the pen party who else is in?!?
His head should get stomped.
the poor precious baby.
I haven’t cried in a while after reading some of these stories…but looking at the little boy’s photo and knowing what happened to him…that is truly heath breaking….too sad…
Fuck the needle, draw and quarter him!
03-18-2011 – UPDATED STORY TO CORRECT MISTAKEN REPORT THAT THE JURY WAS ALREADY DELIBERATING TRAVIS MULLIS’ SENTENCE.
Actually, hearings for the penalty phase are still going on, and won’t be over til early next week. That’s my bad folks.
-Max
Max i sent u an e-mail.
Didn’t get it yet Tif – I’ll let you know when/if I do.
I’m not showing a vote thingy to send the asshole to hell… awww.
He definitely deserves the death penalty. Let ME stomp HIS head. I wonder if the state of Texas would allow me to volunteer??
Maybe I’m not broken enough or something, but I will never understand how someone can look at a defenseless, beautiful little angel like that and then proceed to stomp him to death. I hate jury duty but I’d LOVE to be on this jury.
“The defense attorneys portrayed Mullis in closing arguments Friday as being duped by police into saying he intended to kill his son, arguing that he intended only to stop Alijah from crying.”
BULLSHIT! He knew what he was doing and his intentions were clear. I hate this bastard. I’ve followed this case since day one since I lived close to Galveston and closer to Alvin. After this monster is sentenced to death they need to go after that bitch.
Max actually i had sent like 2 stories, one was when you was sick. I don’t know y u ain’t getting them. :*(
I don’t know either – I’ll send you my personal email address. This way I’ll get your stuff for sure.
ok thanks
Can we just stomp his head until he quits breathing?
I would think life in prison would be so much worse than prison. W/ the death penalty there are always other people involved, lawyers and family if the convict is lucky enough. But w/ just a long prison sentence, they get thrown into a confinement cage and after a while the outside world forgets all about them, as if they don’t even exist. Each and every day alone for them, including birthdays and holidays. Good, that’s exactly what they deserve. An unending life of confinement w/ other miserable people and made to face each day the wrongful actions they took and knowing their current agony could have been avoided had they just exercised better judgment. And then after their life on earth has ended, thrown permanently into the burning lake of fire we know as Hell. I don’t really even believe in hell but I sure hope it exists for people like Travis James Mullis.
I beg your pardon. I meant to say that life in prison would be so much worse than receiving the death penalty.
If you believe in hell, then death will be worst.
The problem I have letting this scumbag live is the fact that he will receive 3 hots and a cot for the rest of his life, while there are people starving in this world. Also he’ll be taking room in the prison which could be better used by a lesser criminal which deserves time in jail.
The only way that life would be worst than death is if he was in with the GP and they beat him near death on a daily bases and did not receive medical attention. While his life will be lonely and boring to the point of insanity, the prison system will never fully punish him.
I disagree with you. Prisoners adapt to prison. Somehow they end up getting contraband like cell phones, drugs and alcohol..
When someone gets the death penalty – they’re locked away alone in solitary confinement 23 hours a day..all alone.. they get to the rec yard for 1 hour like 3 times a week (it varies from state to state – some allow the 1 hour of rec 7 days a week)..regardless, it has literally driven some death row inmates insane.
Death row would be WAY worse than being in prison for life.. It takes years for most states to execute the inmate. They end up getting execution dates which often get delayed.. think of the mental mind f/ck that could do to someone’s psyche.
But that’s all besides the point – the death penalty eliminates violent thugs. I think about the parents of murder victims Elizabeth Pena and Jennifer Ertman — three of the thugs who murdered and raped them have been executed. Does it bring closure? Nope..but it does bring some sense of peace..not having to worry whether those thugs could escape prison somehow OR harm another person, like an inmate or correctional officer.
That’s another thing.. when a murderer is SO violent and dangerous – it is hard to contain them. They become a menace to the entire prison system and difficult to control. It puts everyone in danger..and remember that not all prisoners are horrible people – some are in prison for non-violent crimes, such as drug offenses.. they deserve to be protected from these rageful, violent people like Mullis.
Kohberger forced Mullis to take Alijah with him, fearing that he otherwise would not return, Mullis said.
…..First off he is a sick son of a bitch and I really, really hope he burns in hell, but what happened to the mother? she is disgusting too. She knew he was crazy and MADE him take that baby with him because she thought her vagina filler might leave her…and now her child is dead. It’s so sad.
Glad he is going to die, but too bad it will take a long time to do it and done by the needle. Too humane.
Any news about Caren and if she was sentenced?
And the sentence is DEATH. Sentenced today.
Bye-bye Travis. Have a lovely trip to hell. May it consist of having your head stomped over and over and over, for eternity.
Fucking A !!!! Best news I’ve heard all day long.
So… death by head stomping??? :D
Ahhhh..if only we could implement such an event. Seems more than fair to me, and looking at that angels face – or any angels face – and coming to grips with the absolute brutality of what they had to endure makes me want to punch my computer screen.
Can we not just curb stomp this useless piece of shit after we invade his nether regions with something rather sharp and prickly ? Like broken glass or something ?
Anyone against the use of the DP better have a damn good argument concerning this one. But it would be a half-hearted argument at best, because no actual human being could ever think that this motherfuckers impending death at the hands of our government ; an entity that I unabashedly despise, is unwarranted.
I am actually at a complete and utter loss to understand the opposition to the death penalty. These skumbags act so heinously, with such gross indifference to the suffering of their victims. Some of them are sadists who actually enjoy the pain and suffering they inflict. Why should they enjoy life, even if it is in prison?
No, they forfeit their right to life. Period. The argument that the DP is expensive and time consuming can easily be alleviated by giving these pieces of shit their one mandatory appeal, within a year of their original conviction, then, if upheld, immediate execution. In regard to the innocent being executed, they have their chance via appeal. If it’s an entirely circumstantial case, then perhaps life in prison. But not this asshole. He confessed. He isn’t innocent. He molested his infant then stomped him to death. He gets no sympathy or any kind of consideration. Neither should the cunt of a mother, but that’s another rant.
Sometimes, The Code of Hammurabi really does seem to be the most intelligent way to go about things.
#14 is my favorite ” If any one steal the minor son of another, he shall be put to death.” but for our purposes, I think we can go with #196 “If a man put out the eye of another man, his eye shall be put out.”, with the word “noble’ removed to accommodate our modern concept of Equality under the law.
Soooo… $10 a stomp until he is jelly, and the money goes to a children’s charity. No boots allowed so that we can prolong the agony and collect more cash. Sound good?
id give him the needle but not in the swift painless way that it is. id give him the needle the way gerard butler in law abiding citizen fucks tha accomplice up by switching the serum :) thats how this piece of shit should die. PAINFULLY
OK—I don’t frequent this site too often. I don’t even know why I do at ALL, to be honest. All of the stories disturb me. But this one…this one literally made me sick to my fucking stomach.
Normally, I would say that the death penalty is too good for him, that he should have to rot away in a cell and think about what he had done. But seeing as how he’s fucking mental, I don’t think it would make any sort of impact on the douche at all. Fry the fuck out of him.
Jesus. Sick fuck.
Let him and all of the other child abusers get the death penalty so we don’t have to support them with our tax money! Maybe then the state would have enough money and resources to have enough case workers so that more children don’t “fall through the cracks” of the system!
CRAZY CRAZY guy! This is sick and disturbing! I
just want to stomp on his fucking head, see how much
he likes that, nonetheless a defenslessthree month old baby! What a sick mother fucker! Fuck the life in prison, I want to see him on the electric chair! He deserves the worse in life! I dont understand how someone could do this to their child! I love my children so much! Just looking at the picture of that beautiful baby boy brings tears to my eyes, thinking of what that poor little boy had to go through. Let him rest in peace.
This made me cry so much seeing that smiley face and imagining what this demon did to him. Hope this demon burns and has his head bashed in in hell.
if it looks like a douchebag and has hair like a douchebag then its a douchebag! hopefully someone is stomping his peroxide colored head into a pulp every day he opens his eyes.