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  1. #1
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    Travis James Mullis - Texas Death Row






    January 29, 2008

    Dead baby's father sought in roadside discovery

    Police want to question the father of a 3-month-old baby boy who matches the description of a body found Tuesday near a child's car seat on the side of a Galveston road.

    Galveston police put out a nationwide investigative hold for Travis Mullis, 21, after an Alvin woman said her baby had been missing since 6 a.m. Tuesday and identified the dead child as hers after seeing a photo.

    Mullis is described as 5-foot-10, 150 pounds. He wears glasses and is known as "T.J.,"' police said.

    The mother's name is not being released until the Medical Examiner's Office identifies the body.

    The body of a blond baby boy clad in a diaper was discovered in the grass near the side of a road about 9 a.m. Tuesday near Seawall Boulevard and Ferry Road, Galveston police Lt. Jorge Trevino said.

    "A couple was driving on Cherry Hill and saw what they thought was a doll," Trevino said. But something looked odd and they stopped and discovered the body next to a child's car seat, he said.

    Trevino said the description of the Alvin woman's missing baby matched that of the body — blond hair and blue eyes.

    He said the woman, whom he did not identify, came to Galveston voluntarily and last saw the child with the father.

    He said someone who lives with her called Texas EquuSearch, a volunteer organization that searches for missing persons, and EquuSearch called the Galveston police.

    Trevino said it appeared that the child may have been thrown from the car while sitting in the car seat. He said it was unlikely that the child could have somehow fallen out of the car without the driver being aware.

    Cherry Hill is the unofficial name for a 2-mile stretch of Seawall Boulevard that begins past Ferry Road and runs to the east end of the island at the Ship Channel. The road is unusual because a berm on its north side is paved, allowing cars to drive along the top of the berm.

    Jesse James Zaro Jr., 43, of Galveston and wife Esmeralda, 45, were driving slowly along the top of the berm looking for coyotes when they spotted the body, Zaro said.

    "I looked over to the side and it looked like a doll," Zaro said. "Then I just said, 'Oh my God,' and I got out of the car and looked and it was a baby, a little baby.

    "It was horrible. I went to pieces, I couldn't believe it."

    Zaro said he tried to flag down a truck before learning that his wife was carrying a cell phone. Police received the call at 8:59 a.m.

    Choking with emotion, Zaro said he couldn't understand why someone would discard a child. "First of all, if you couldn't handle what you had, you could have given it to somebody who could have taken care of it," he said.

    "But golly, why hurt a poor defenseless little baby?"

    The body was about 20 feet from the curb at the top of the berm in a grassy area. The car seat was found in a brushy area about 30 feet farther.

    Crime scene investigators were combing the area for evidence and will have exact measurements later today, Trevino said.

    He said it was likely that the body had been by the side of the road for a short time because it was in good condition and had not been attacked by animals. He said there were no obvious marks on the body.

    The body was taken to the Galveston County Medical Examiner's Office, Trevino said.

    The discovery comes nearly three months after a fisherman discovered the unidentified body of a 2-year-old girl in a plastic box that had washed up on an island in West Galveston Bay.

    Authorities searched for nearly a month before determining the identity of Riley Ann Sawyers of Spring. Trevino said he expected the baby boy to be identified much sooner.

    "Whoever came out here is familiar with the area," Trevino said. He said prints of children's feet are often taken at birth, which should help identification.

    He said a sketch or photo of the face would be made if necessary to help identify the child.

    District Attorney Kurt Sistrunk and First Assistant District Attorney Joel Bennett were at the scene conferring with investigators, but declined comment.

    Sistrunk is prosecuting the parents of Riley Ann Sawyers on capital murder charges.

    http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/...n/5494635.html

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    January 30, 2008

    ANOTHER GRIM DISCOVERY IN GALVESTON

    The death of an infant whose body was found alongside a road here Tuesday was ruled a homicide today by the Galveston County Medical Examiner's Office.

    An autopsy completed today determined that the baby died of a head injury, but could not determine what caused the injury, office investigator John Florence said.

    "Infants' heads are really soft, not formed, and a lot of times it's hard to tell," Florence said.

    The infant, who an Alvin woman claims is her 3-month-old son, was found next to a child's car seat and police believe the child may have been thrown from a car. A child's seat was found about 30 feet from the body.

    "I don't know if it was thrown out of the car," Florence said about the body. "I don't know if the child was killed right there or it wasn't killed right there."

    Florence said he couldn't determine whether the infant was struck with an object or whether the infant's head was slammed against something.

    He said the injury and the circumstances surrounding it led to the homicide ruling.

    A man wanted for questioning by police in the death lived in a trailer in Alvin with the woman who says she is the child's mother, a housemate said today.

    Travis Mullis, 21, left the trailer about two hours and 30 minutes before the baby's body was found, Darrell Nichols said.

    Nichols — interviewed at the trailer he shares with Mullis and the woman, whose identity has not been released by police— said the couple moved in with him shortly after the 3-month-old child was born.

    "They had money issues and I felt sorry for them," Nichols said.

    He said the couple, who are not married, didn't appear to be having problems when he went to sleep about midnight Monday. He awoke at 6:30 a.m. Tuesday to find that Mullis had left the trailer to have repairs done on a 2002 Hyundai four-door Accent registered to the mother.

    When Mullis didn't return, the mother became upset and called the repair shop, hospitals and other places to try to find Mullis and her child, Nichols said.

    He said there were no indications that Mullis was upset or that he intended to harm the baby.

    Other neighbors said the couple was quiet and appeared normal.

    This morning a woman drove up and silently placed three blue balloons in front of the trailer. Two of the balloons quickly burst in the wind, but a third that said, "You're so special," remained.

    The mother remained inside a neighbor's mobile home next door to the trailer where the couple lived with Nichols.

    A neighbor who refused to identify himself said the woman was too upset to talk. "We thought one of us could put together a statement, but she's too upset even for that, " the neighbor said.

    The infant was found near a child's car seat in a grassy area next to Seawall Boulevard. The medical examiner's office will use either footprints taken at birth or a DNA test to verify that the child belongs to the Alvin woman, said office investigator John Florence. Police questioned her on Tuesday.

    Galveston Police Lt. Jorge Trevino said a subpoena was issued today for anyidentifying information from the hospital.

    The discovery of the body came three months to the day after a fisherman found the remains of "Baby Grace," washed ashore inside a blue plastic box in West Galveston Bay.

    "One death is too many and the fact that we've now had two in such a short time span is beyond comprehension," Galveston County District Attorney Kurt Sistrunk said.

    The body found Tuesday, described as a blond, blue-eyed child wearing a disposable diaper, was discovered about 9 a.m. about a mile east of Seawall Boulevard and Ferry Road, Trevino said

    Trevino said a couple hoping to view wildlife stumbled across the body.

    "A couple was driving on Cherry Hill and saw what they thought was a doll," Trevino said. But something looked odd, and they stopped and discovered the body near a child's car seat, he said.

    Trevino said it appeared the child may have been thrown from the car while sitting in the car seat. He said it was unlikely that the child could have somehow fallen out of the car without the driver being aware.

    The Alvin woman, whose 3-month-old had last been seen with Mullis between 6 a.m. and 6:30 a.m. Tuesday, began phoning hospitals in the area and a hospital contacted the Galveston police, Trevino said.

    Texas EquuSearch, the volunteer search organization, also called police with the same information about 15 minutes later, he said.

    Police escorted the woman to the Galveston Police Department for questioning and she identified a photo of the body, Trevino said. He said the woman's identity would not be released until the medical examiner's office confirms the identity of the body.

    The District Attorney's Office decided the woman gave enough information to justify an investigative hold, which allows police anywhere to detain Mullis for questioning, Trevino said.

    Investigators do not want to release details about the couple's relationship, Trevino said. Mullis is described as 5 feet 10 inches tall, 150 pounds. He wears glasses and is known as "T.J.,'' police said.

    He was last seen driving a four-door 2002 Hyundai Accent with duct tape on the right-rear passenger door handle. The Texas license plate number is 067-RJP.

    Police were searching the woman's home late Tuesday to make sure it was not a crime scene, he said.

    Cherry Hill is the unofficial name for a 2-mile stretch of Seawall Boulevard that begins past Ferry Road and runs to the east end of the island at the Ship Channel. The road has an elevated, paved berm on its north side that allows vehicles to drive along the top of the berm.

    'I couldn't believe it'

    Jesse James Zaro Jr., 43, of Galveston, and his wife, Esmeralda, 45, were driving slowly along the top of the berm looking for coyotes when they spotted the body, Zaro said.

    "I looked over to the side and it looked like a doll," Zaro said. "Then I just said, 'Oh my God,' and I got out of the car and looked and it was a baby, a little baby.

    "It was horrible. I went to pieces, I couldn't believe it."

    Zaro said he tried to flag down a truck before realizing his wife had a cell phone. Police received the call at 8:59 a.m.

    Choking with emotion, Zaro said he couldn't understand why someone would discard a child. "First of all, if you couldn't handle what you had, you could have given it to somebody who could have taken care of it," he said.

    "But golly, why hurt a poor defenseless little baby?"

    The body was about 20 feet from the curb at the top of the berm in a grassy area. The car seat was found in a brushy area about 30 feet away.

    The body appeared to have a head injury, said John Florence, investigator for the Galveston County Medical Examiner's Office.

    The discovery comes nearly three months after the remains of 2-year-old Riley Ann Sawyers washed up on an island in West Galveston Bay. She was dubbed "Baby Grace" as police pursued leads and worked to identify the body in an investigation that was at times emotional.

    Sistrunk, who is prosecuting Riley's mother and stepfather on capital murder charges, said, "There are no words to describe this. It's senseless."

    "The abuse, death and subsequent disposal of this child — any child — is vile and inhumane, and we will work diligently with the Galveston Police Department in every way possible, the same as we have with agencies in the past, to find those responsible," Sistrunk said.

    Baby's footprints may help

    Trevino said the medical examiner might be able to identify the body through footprints. Although many Texas hospitals keep newborns' footprints and some keep thumbprints of the mother, many do not.

    In Galveston County, the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston does not record footprints because they are not considered legal identification, UTMB spokesman Raul Reyes said.

    Mainland Medical Center records newborn footprints and mothers' thumbprints to make sure there are no mix-ups in the maternity ward, center spokesman Harold Fattig said.

    Craig Cordola, CEO of Children's Memorial Hermann Hospital in Houston, said his hospital only keeps newborn footprints and an ID bracelet on file.

    FBI spokeswoman Pat Villafranca said there is no database of footprints, and that any comparison would have to be done manually.

    Anyone with information about the case should phone Galveston Police 409-765-3702 or Crime Stoppers 409-763-8477.

    http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/...n/5497308.html

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    Trial begins for alleged baby-killer

    Travis Mullis faces the death penalty in a trial that begins today in Galveston for allegedly stomping his 3-month-old son to death because the baby wouldn't stop crying.

    Mullis, 24, of Alvin, is also accused of attempting to sexually molest Alijah Mullis on Jan. 30, 2008, before crushing the baby's skull and dumping the body and infant car seat alongside a road on Galveston Island.

    He also faces enticing-a-child charges in Brazoria County for allegedly taking an 8-year-old girl from her bed and asking her to remove her pants. Mullis allegedly returned the girl without molesting her after she became upset.

    The 14 jury members, including two alternates, were selected last month.

    Troubled past

    Mullis's tortured family history and mental illness are likely to be revealed during the trial. Mullis, in an interview, said he was sexually abused as a child and shunned by his mother, who rarely bothers to write and does not visit him in jail.

    Neighbors in the Baltimore, Md., suburb where he grew up said his mother moved out of their home there without telling her son where she was going.

    As a juvenile, Mullis was sent to a juvenile treatment facility because of improper relations with a younger relative.

    A police officer who once lived next to Mullis in Baltimore said he moved his family to another state because he feared for his child.

    Turned himself in

    The day of Alijah's death, Mullis, Alijah and the child's mother, Caren Kohberger, 20, were living in an Alvin trailer park where a friend had invited them to stay because they were penniless, according to police and interviews with those who knew the couple.

    Kohberger handed her son over to Mullis as he left on an errand early the morning of Jan. 30, but ended up on the far east end of Galveston Island where a paved berm separates the highway from a remote section used by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to dump mud dredged from navigation channels.

    A couple driving along the top of the berm looking for wildlife later that morning discovered Alijah's body and the car seat. Mullis disappeared and police began a nationwide search.

    Several days later Mullis walked into a Philadelphia police station and announced that he was wanted in Texas.

    He said in a statement to Philadelphia police that he became frustrated when his son wouldn't stop crying and stomped on his skull until he felt it give way.

    Mullis was returned to Galveston where bond was set at $1 million.

    http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/...n/7460020.html

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    Juror replaced as Mullis trial nears end

    The judge presiding over the capital murder trial of Travis James Mullis replaced a juror today shortly before the jury was to hear closing arguments in the penalty phase.

    State District Judge John Ellisor replaced juror No. 8 with an alternate juror after defense attorney Gerald Bourque complained that the juror had violated the judge's order that jurors only discuss the case in the jury room during deliberations.

    Ellisor also said he would discuss the issue with other jurors.

    "It's just a horrible, horrible impact on this client," Bourque said of the juror's actions.

    The jury convicted Mullis, 24, of capital murder March 11 and last week heard testimony in the penalty phase of the trial. Jurors will decide whether to sentence him to death or life without parole.

    Mullis is accused of stomping to death his 3-month-old son, Alijah, Jan. 29, 2008, to stop him from crying.

    Bourque asked Ellisor to declare a mistrial in the punishment phase and sentence Mullis to life imprisonment, alleging that juror No. 8 had consistently shared her view with a group of jurors who congregated to smoke.

    Special prosecutor Lyn McClellan said it would be a mistake to declare a mistrial because only the single juror had shared her views. Ellisor declined to declare a mistrial.

    The defense and the prosecution are expected to make final arguments this morning before the jury begins deliberations.

    http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/...o/7484220.html

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    February 4, 2008

    Police: Mullis showing remorse

    Slain baby's dad to return to Texas as early as Tuesday

    The Alvin man who police say confessed to killing his 3-month-old son waived his right to extradition today and is scheduled to return Tuesday to Texas, where he faces a capital murder charge.

    Travis Mullis, 21, has been held here since he surrendered on Friday in Philadelphia, more than 1,550 miles from Galveston, and confessed to killing the baby "by stomping on Alijah Mullis' head with his foot three to four times until he felt the skull collapsing," police said.

    A Galveston couple found the baby dead on Jan. 29, about a mile east of Ferry Road on Galveston Island. The county's Medical Examiner's Office on Wednesday ruled the death a homicide caused by a head wound.

    Mullis has been held without bail as a fugitive and must return to Texas before the murder case against him can proceed.

    "We're hoping we can get on the plane (Tuesday)," said Sgt. Gary Jones, one of the four Galveston investigators who traveled to Philadelphia to investigate the case and bring Mullis home. Jones, who spoke to reporters after the brief extradition waiver hearing Monday at the Philadelphia Criminal Justice Center, wouldn't say if they'd travel by charter or commercial flight, or what time they might depart.

    In his first public exposure since he surrendered, a subdued Mullis appeared before Judge Jeffrey Minehart wearing an orange prison uniform that hung loosely off his thin body. His hands were shackled, his hair was blondish-red, and he wore wire-rim glasses.

    "Do you still wish to give up to your right to have an extradition hearing?" Minehart asked.

    "Yes, I do," Mullis replied, after affirming that he understood what was going on and was not under the influence of alcohol, drugs, or medication. At the end of the hearing, he signed paperwork making it official.

    Assistant District Attorney John Doyle said the extradition waiver process had gone smoothly and was typical for similar cases.

    Dan Stevenson, of the Defender Association of Philadelphia, represented Mullis and said he seemed ready to get back to Texas.

    "He seems eager to return," Stevenson said. "He said, 'There's no point in me staying here'."

    He said that Mullis didn't yet have an attorney to defend him against the Texas charges.

    "We tried to arrange that today, but were unsuccessful."

    Although he was only placed on the case about an hour before the hearing, Stevenson called Mullis "nervous" and "remorseful."

    "He seems really rocky," Stevenson said. "He was crying when I spoke to him."

    Meanwhile, two Galveston investigators went to Maryland Monday morning looking for clues about how and why Mullis went to Pennsylvania. They've been to Abingdon, where Mullis lived for about five years as a teenager, as well as other towns, said Sgt. Annie Almendarez of the Galveston Police.

    "We're still out in the field investigating," said Almendarez, who explained she spoke to several of Mullis' relatives Monday morning, but declined to say who.

    She also said the two crime scene investigators who stayed behind in Philadelphia finished examining Mullis' vehicle, but wouldn't say what they found. Jones, one of the investigators, would say only that "I believe it has been a successful trip."

    Mullis is being held at the Curran-Fromhold Correctional Facility, a nearby jail where he is separated from the general inmate population.

    "Any high profile case would get the same treatment," spokesman Bob Eskind said.

    He's held alone in an 8-by-10 foot cell with one bed, a toilet, and sink, Eskind said. New inmates also undergo a behavioral health screening, classification interview and an intake social worker interview.

    At the hearing, Mullis' replies were mostly yes and no answers, but he did state his name and address for the judge.

    When the judge asked him about his previous mental health history, he said he had taken behavioral drugs in the past "until about three years ago when I ran out of financial funds to cover it."

    http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/...n/5510362.html

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    Witness in Mullis murder trial recalls finding infant's body

    GALVESTON — Jesse Zaro, discovered the body of 3-month-old Alijah Mullis Jan. 29, 2008, face down about 25 feet from the edge of Seawall Boulevard in a remote area of Galveston Island known as Cherry Hill.

    Mullis, who faces the death penalty, is accused of stomping his son to death to keep him from crying. Prosecutors told Galveston County District Judge John Ellisor that they were dropping an accusation that Mullis attempted to molest his son before killing him.

    Later, Mullis held his forefinger under his nose, his hand covering his mouth, and nervously flicked his thumb as prosecutors projected onto a screen photos of his son's tiny body lying on the side of the road. He showed no expression as he gazed steadily at the images.

    The Zaros were driving along the top of a paved embankment watching for wildlife at about 9 a.m. when Zaro saw what he thought was an expensive doll. Then he realized it was the body of a baby.

    "It was lying there and it hurts my heart talking about this," Zaro said.

    Distraught, he ran to the car, then tried to flag down a passing dump truck before remembering that his wife had a cell phone.

    "I've never seen anything like this before and it's horrible Oh my God," Zaro says on a tape of the 911 call played for jurors. "Who would do something like this? It's a baby!"

    Zaro was the first witness to testify after opening statements by the prosecution and defense.

    Assistant Galveston County District Attorney Donna Cameron told the eight woman and six men on the jury, including two alternates, that testimony would show that Mullis confessed to killing his son. After fleeing and becoming a fugitive, Mullis surrendered to Philadelphia police.

    Without being asked, Mullis told police, "I stomped his head, I just kept stomping his head," Cameron said. "This defendant took his infant son, then stomped him and threw him like trash into that field."

    Defense attorney Robert Loper told jurors that although his client might have told police that he intended to kill his son, he was a 21-year old being questioned by veteran police officers. He was so willing to cooperate and tell his story that he told officers what they wanted to hear, Loper said.

    What Mullis meant is more important that what he said, Loper explained.

    "If he meant to stop his child from crying and didn't intentionally cause his death, you should find him not guilty of capital murder," Loper said.

    The innocence-guilt phase of the trial is expected to last a week. If he is found guilty of capital murder, jurors will decide in the second phase whether he deserves the death penalty.

    http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/...n/7460824.html

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    Jury deliberates death sentence for Mullis

    A jury began deliberating today whether to impose the death penalty against a man convicted of capital murder in the stomping death of his 3-month-old son.

    The jury of seven women, five men and two alternates in Judge John Ellisor’s 122nd District Court, however, is one person short.

    Ellisor removed a female juror from today’s death penalty hearing on an allegation of juror misconduct.

    The defense team of Travis James Mullis asked Ellisor to declare a mistrial in the punishment phase and impose a sentence of life without parole.

    Ellisor ordered the juror removed and to be replaced by another woman, who was one of the two alternates.

    It is unclear if the instance stemmed from another defense attorney not connected with the case, who overheard last week jurors on Mullis’ case talking during a cigarette-smoking break.

    Attorney Lynette Briggs told the judge last week that she believed she heard some kind of discussion, but she wasn’t sure what she heard.

    Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty for Mullis, who was convicted March 11 of capital murder in the Jan. 29, 2008, slaying of his 3-month-old son, Alijah.

    Sightseers found Alijah’s body clad in a diaper on a desolate berm near Galveston’s East Beach.

    Mullis fled to the East Coast and surrendered Feb. 1 to Philadelphia police. He gave a videotaped confession to the killing, saying he stomped Alijah’s head, because it was the only way to keep him from crying.

    Mullis’ punishment hearing began March 14, and testimony in the hearing concluded Friday with both the state and defense resting their cases.

    Jurors heard closing arguments this morning and begin deliberating at 11:35 a.m. whether Mullis would die or spend life in prison.

    Mullis faces either life in prison without parole or death. Jurors must consider two issues: Whether Mullis is a continuing threat to society and whether there were sufficient mitigating circumstances.

    Defense attorneys, Robert K. Loper and Gerald Bourque, reminded the jury that Mullis was a victim of repeated sexual assault by his adoptive father.

    Mullis suffered from a multitude of mental disorders and was bipolar — issues he had no control over at an early age. He spent three years as a teen at a sex offender’s rehabilitation facility in Maryland.

    While jailed in Galveston County, Mullis wrote initials on his cell wall and titled it a “hit list.”

    “He was just showing frustration at the system,” Loper said of Mullis learning that after he’d been jailed for two years he’d have to wait another before going to trial.

    “Maybe you think this guy deserves so much to die. You shouldn’t hate him. You should pity him.”

    Bourque told the jurors Mullis didn’t belong in society and asked jurors to let his client spend life in prison.

    “Let him die by whatever cause and not carry his blood on your hands,” Bourque said.

    Special Prosecutor Lyn McClellan told the jury Mullis was a coldblooded killer and that there were no judicial safeguards for Alijah, who suffered a sexual assault before Mullis stomped on the boy’s head.

    “Travis was for Alijah judge, jury and executioner,” McClellan said.

    The jury at 11:46 a.m. sent a note to Ellisor, asking for Mullis’ statement to police, a list of exhibits by the state and defense and photos of Mullis’ cell wall at the county jail.

    The court sent jurors to lunch while their requests were being met.

    http://galvestondailynews.com/story/219154

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    How appropriate, this is my 20,000th post!

    Mullis' execution could be set in September

    With Travis Mullis waffling on whether to appeal his capital murder conviction, it could be September 2013 before an execution date is set for Galveston County’s only death row inmate.

    On Wednesday, the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals rejected an untimely appeal to review Mullis’ March 2011 conviction in the 2008 stomping death of his infant son, Alijah.

    http://www.galvestondailynews.com/ne...a4bcf6878.html
    An uninformed opponent is a dangerous opponent.

    "Y'all be makin shit up" ~ Markeith Loyd

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    Nice! I need the 'like' button now; and thanks for all the information on this site!

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    February 5, 2008

    Travel problem forces plane change for Mullis

    Southwest Airlines on Tuesday refused to allow a man accused of stomping his 3-month-old son to death to board one of its aircraft in Philadelphia, forcing him and his police escort to fly to Houston on Continental Airlines.

    The confusion vexed Galveston police returning Travis Mullis, 21, to Galveston where he is expected to make his first court appearance Wednesday since being charged with capital murder in the slaying of his son, Alijah, last week.

    Four Galveston officers flew on Southwest to Philadelphia after Mullis walked into a Philadelphia police station Friday and admitted to stomping on his son's skull until he felt it give way.

    Police had been seeking Mullis since his son's diaper-clad body was discovered Jan. 29 alongside a Galveston road about 30 feet from a child's car seat.

    Conflicting accounts of the airline fiasco were given by the police and Southwest Airlines.

    Galveston police Lt. Jorge Trevino said that one of the four Galveston police officers who traveled to Philadelphia phoned Southwest Airlines and asked if they could return with a prisoner, informing them of Mullis's name and the charge against him.

    The officer was told that Mullis could board as long as he was not handcuffed because that was a violation of Southwest policy, Trevino said. The officer assured Southwest officials that Mullis would not be handcuffed, he said.

    When the officers arrived at the boarding area with Mullis, the media attracted the attention of airport security, Trevino said.

    Security asked the purpose of the travel and were told that a prisoner charged with capital murder was being transported, he said. Security refused to allow Mullis to board.

    One of the Galveston officers phoned Southwest officials and protested that he had made all arrangements in advance and had been told that Mullis could board if he were not handcuffed, Trevino said. The Galveston officers were again given permission to board and security was notified, he said.

    That decision was reversed again before they could board, he said. Southwest officials said that federal regulations forbid prisoners from flying without handcuffs and it would violate airline policy for Mullis to fly handcuffed.

    Southwest then agreed to help arrange passage with another airline. Trevino had no further contact with officers after they were forbidden to board the Southwest flight. "My concern is that somebody in the media is thinking we sent them on a wild goosechase to avoid the media," Trevino said. "That is not the case."

    Southwest Airlines spokesman Chris Mainz said Galveston police did not check with airline officials before boarding the aircraft.

    Mainz said that prisoners being transported aboard an airline must have their hands restrained, but Southwest Airlines does not allow prisoners to be handcuffed by law enforcement officials on its aircraft, Mainz said.

    "Most law enforcement officers know our policy," he said.

    http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/side2/5516539.html

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