My Dad’s on Death Row

Best-seller worldwide: Airing on CBC, UKTV, Canal +, Foxtel, TV2, VGTV, Spiegel, TVNZ, SVT. 

John Battaglia was due to be picked up by the police in the morning, for violating his parole again. He was granted one last visit with his daughters, Faith, aged 9, and Liberty, 6 years old. When the girls’ mother talked with them on the phone, they were frightened. All she heard was them pleading ‘no, daddy, don’t!’ – followed by the sound of a gunshot. She screamed down the phone ‘Run girls, run!’

Texas authorities later stated that Battaglia killed his daughters out of retaliation because his ex-wife Mary Jeane Pearle had complained to his probation officer. His other daughter, Christie, tells the story of this devastating crime. John in particular was a man who’d evaded death multiple times. He openly admits his crimes in this film, on camera with the director, in a tape that was ultimately used against him. He had been pleading insanity during one of his last appeals and only a close examination of his library records highlighted that he had “learnt” the techniques and mannerisms he was displaying, in a bid for his freedom. This footage shows a calm and collected admission of his crimes from a villain that will both fascinate and disturb you.

Coy Wesbrook was sentenced to death for killing five people in an apparent fit of jealous rage and is just hours from execution by lethal injection. He is deemed by his lawyer to be mentally impaired and therefore not fully responsible for his actions, but he has exhausted all his appeals. The only hope Coy has are the picketing protesters outside the prison walls. Coy’s story is told via his daughter as she recounts her father’s crime and the impact it has had on the remaining family.

This documentary explores the two horrific stories. With haunting interviews with the killers, plus emotional exchanges with the daughters, this brand new film presents two extraordinary crimes and their criminals in a open, revealing and honest light. Beautifully shot and with extraordinary access and co-operation from the murderers, Texan prison and staff, and even some protesters fighting for the life of one of the convicts, this film is a captivating look at true crime, and the families left behind.