A 50-year-old man on Texas’ demise row who has maintained his innocence for greater than twenty years was executed on Wednesday, in line with a number of experiences.
Ivan Cantu, who was convicted and sentenced to demise by a jury within the 2000 killing of his cousin and the cousin’s fiancée, was killed by deadly injection at 6:47 p.m. native time, in line with CNN. He repeatedly acknowledged his innocence in his closing phrases.
“I don’t assume that this example right here will carry you closure, if it does. If that is what it takes or have any reservations off in your thoughts, then so be it,” Cantu stated.
Discrepancies in a key piece of testimony, the recanting of different testimony and apprehension from two jurors have forged doubt on his conviction.
“From the primary day — every little thing was there to research the case and show my innocence. However after I defined it, they didn’t imagine me,” Cantu stated in an interview with Noticias Telemundo, in line with NBC Information earlier this month. Each information retailers are owned by NBCUniversal.
After being scheduled for an April 2023 execution, Cantu’s demise was placed on maintain by a choose who allowed Cantu and his authorized group time to show that the testimony and proof his conviction was primarily based on had been unreliable. Cantu was additionally beforehand scheduled for an execution in 2012.
Cantu has argued that his cousin, 27-year-old James Mosqueda, was a drug supplier indebted to a rival drug supplier who killed Mosqueda and his fiancée, Amy Kitchen.
Cantu’s former girlfriend, Amy Boettcher, and her brother, Jeff Boettcher, each testified towards him through the trial.
In keeping with a petition filed by Cantu’s lawyer final yr, Amy Boettcher, who died in 2021, testified that Cantu killed Mosqueda and Kitchen, took her to the crime scene, then went to Arkansas together with her. She additionally stated that she threw Cantu’s bloodied denims in a rubbish can earlier than they left city, the petition famous. The bloodied denims had been a key piece of proof in Cantu’s trial, however Cantu has argued that somebody planted the denims, which weren’t his right measurement, whereas they had been out of city.
Mosqueda’s Rolex watch was additionally a key piece of proof within the case. Whereas Amy Boettcher stated that Cantu threw Mosqueda’s be careful of a window, authorities discovered the watch in Mosqueda’s house after his demise and gave it to his household, in line with Cantu’s authorized group. The discovering illustrates at the very least one discrepancy in her testimony.
In one other discrepancy, Amy Boettcher additionally stated that Cantu proposed to her on the day of the killings with a hoop from Kitchen’s physique, however a number of witnesses stated the 2 had gotten engaged earlier than then, Cantu’s lawyer stated, in line with The Related Press.
Jeff Boettcher was out of city through the killings however stated through the trial that Cantu instructed him about it beforehand. Jeff Boettcher has stated that he “lied” throughout his testimony, including that he’s remorseful and that he was depending on medicine on the time, in line with a video of him speaking to an lawyer and investigator in 2022.
As well as, at the very least two jurors wrote declarations final yr detailing their issues concerning the equity of Cantu’s trial.
“I imagine that as jurors, we collectively determined pretty primarily based on the proof introduced forth by the prosecutors,” Jeff Calhoun, the jury foreman, wrote in his declaration, in line with The Texas Tribune. “The unlucky consequence, although, is that the trial itself was not truthful as perjury was dedicated. I don’t know the place else the reality was fabricated, if wherever, however this alone leaves me apprehensive that we had been offered with the whole fact.”
“I are not looking for the execution of Mr. Cantu to be carried out except a cautious and thorough evaluate of the proof is performed,” stated Maurice Jacob, one of many jurors, in line with The Related Press.
Texas is the chief in executions throughout the U.S., with a outstanding 586 state-sanctioned killings from 1977 to 2023, in line with U.S. Information & World Report. The state additionally led in executions final yr, killing eight individuals, in line with the Texas Coalition to Abolish the Demise Penalty.
Texas, which presently holds practically 200 individuals on demise row, has convicted, sentenced and launched at the very least 16 recognized harmless former demise row inmates since 1976, in line with The Demise Penalty Data Middle. “A number of” extra had been executed regardless of sturdy proof opposing their convictions, DPIC added.
As soon as a person is on demise row, it’s troublesome to vary their destiny. From 2018 to 2022, the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles thought of 38 purposes for clemency in capital punishment instances however really helpful clemency in simply two of them, in line with The Texas Board of Pardons And Paroles’ annual report, printed in February 2023. The report detailing statistics for 2023 had not but been printed on the time of writing. After the board recommends clemency, the choice goes to the governor, on this case Republican Greg Abbott, for closing approval.
Cantu submitted a request to the board, however he and his authorized group additionally took different routes in hopes of getting his life spared.
In August 2023, months after Cantu evaded his April execution date, the Texas Courtroom of Felony Appeals dismissed his attraction, saying his causes didn’t meet the factors for them to evaluate it. The transfer signifies that Cantu will not be allowed to carry his case for consideration on the federal stage.
Cantu’s authorized group additionally submitted pleas throughout a number of courts in an effort to maintain him alive, in line with an area Fox affiliate. However on Wednesday, an lawyer instructed a Dallas Morning Information reporter they “couldn’t discover a viable path” to get his case reviewed.
A petition with greater than 80,000 signatures was despatched to Collin County District Lawyer Greg Willis forward of Wednesday asking him to remain Cantu’s execution. Nonetheless, Willis remained unmoved, the Morning Information added.
On Wednesday, Willis launched a press release on X, previously Twitter, saying “Cantu’s guilt was confirmed with clear and highly effective proof.”
“After over twenty years of a number of state and federal courts comprehensively reviewing his conviction, Ivan Cantu has lastly met with justice tonight. My hopeful prayer is for the victims’ households, buddies, and family members to discover a long-awaited sense of peace.
Cantu had acquired assist from TV character Kim Kardashian in addition to Rep. Joaquin Castro (D-Texas) and his brother, lawyer Julián Castro, who was the housing and concrete growth secretary within the Obama administration.
Kardashian, a staunch jail reform advocate, has posted about Cantu quite a few occasions on X, calling on her followers to push Abbott towards granting a 30-day reprieve for Cantu.
“Whether or not you assist capital punishment or not, the suitable to due course of and a good trial are ideas we must always all imagine in. However a justice system that takes somebody’s life with out contemplating new proof or defective testimony that led to their conviction isn’t simply in any respect,” the Castro brothers stated in a joint assertion. “We all know a system constructed and maintained by human beings is topic to the bounds of our imperfections. For that motive, we should look at each case with the gravity that capital instances demand.”
Cantu spoke with The Texas Tribune in an interview printed earlier this month.
“Isn’t that loopy? I’m on demise row, I’ve an lawyer, a beautiful lawyer, who is aware of what must be performed to repair these issues with the courtroom, and the principles and the legal guidelines are saying that her palms, mainly her palms are tied behind her again,” Cantu instructed the Tribune.
“I typically take into consideration that as a result of I don’t wish to die,” he added, “it’s simply days earlier than they wish to put me on a stretcher for against the law I didn’t commit — we’re doing our greatest to current the knowledge to the courts, nevertheless it’s like they don’t care.”
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