A Texas inmate was executed on Wednesday, many years after being convicted of two murders that he insisted he did not commit.
Ivan Cantu, 50, was pronounced lifeless at 6:47 p.m. on Wednesday evening after being administered a deadly injection. He was an inmate on the Texas State Penitentiary at Huntsville.
In 2001, Cantu was convicted for the murders of his 27-year-old cousin, James Mosqueda, and Mosqueda’s girlfriend, Amy Kitchen, 22. The couple was discovered shot lifeless in November 2000.
The Related Press reported Cantu maintained his innocence in his closing phrases Wednesday as family members of Kitchen appeared on: “I would like you to know that I by no means killed James and Amy,” he stated. “And if I did, if I knew who did, you’ll’ve been the primary to know any data.”
Cantu, in line with the AP, additionally stated he did not assume his demise “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 was accused of making an attempt to steal marijuana, cocaine and money from Mosqueda, a drug seller, earlier than killing him and his girlfriend in north Dallas.
Cantu had maintained that his cousin was really killed by a rival drug seller.
The inmate’s ex-girlfriend, Amy Boettcher, testified that Cantu confessed his intentions to kill Mosqueda and Kitchen — a sworn statement that Cantu’s legal professional stated was filled with false statements.
Cantu’s lawyer, Gena Bunn, contested that Boettcher’s testimony about Cantu stealing Mosqueda’s Rolex watch was false, alongside along with her declare that the late inmate gave her an engagement ring stolen from Kitchen.
Bunn gathered new proof purportedly proving Cantu’s innocence, however confirmed that she wouldn’t submit an enchantment with the U.S. Supreme Courtroom shortly earlier than the inmate was executed. The fifth U.S. Circuit Courtroom of Appeals beforehand discovered that new proof within the case was “not credible.”
The court docket argued that “none of [the new evidence] undermines the vital incriminating proof towards Cantu.”
Collin County District Legal professional Greg Willis lately stated that he’s “satisfied that Ivan Cantu brutally murdered two harmless victims in 2000.”
Cantu’s execution was the Lone Star State’s first of 2024. The subsequent execution is scheduled for the summer time — an inmate named James Harris, Jr. had his March 13 execution date postponed on account of a keep issued by the Texas Courtroom of Felony Appeals.
The Related Press contributed to this report.
