In his thirty-second point of error, appellant alleges that the second special issue on punishment is facially unconstitutional in violation of the United States Supreme Court decision of Tison v. Arizona, 481 U.S. 137, 107 S.Ct. Archived from the original on June 2, 2022.
This allegation was addressed and answered by the United States Supreme Court in Jurek v. Texas, 428 U.S. 262, 96 S.Ct. These arguments are unavailing. * that appellant threatened to kill an officer of the law; and
I'm not going to show it to you. Do you think that if Mr. Ertman or Mr. Pena or Mrs. Ertman or Mrs. Pena had come on up on the scene and said to Peter and his gang don't kill that child, don't kill that child, would he have listened? McFarland, 928 S.W.2d at 520. Point of error forty-four is overruled. He then notes that the Texas Constitution proscribes cruel or unusual punishments while the Eighth Amendment prohibits cruel and unusual punishments. We have previously rejected this argument. Thus, this evidence is admissible under Texas Criminal Evidence Rule 401. "There's no way to put closure on this," said Jim Stacey, a close friend of the Ertman family. Under AEDPA, habeas relief is unavailable on any claim adjudicated on the merits in state court unless the state court's adjudication (1) resulted in a decision that was contrary to, or involved an unreasonable application of, clearly established Federal law, as determined by the Supreme Court of the United States, or (2) resulted in a decision that was based on an unreasonable determination of the facts in light of the evidence presented in the State court proceeding. 28 U.S.C. A memorial for them was also placed at T.C. The Supreme Court has also expressed approval of this method of instructing the jury concerning the consideration of mitigating evidence. Instagram Contact Us Check out some new shirts! Mrs. Naomi (Pete) Cantu of Waxahachie, 94, passed away July . Rule App. Background: Following affirmance of his conviction for capital murder and his death sentence, 939 S.W.2d 627, state inmate filed petition for writ of habeas corpus. "We could have put all of them in prison for life.
Obituary for Pete T. Cantu | Holmgreen Mortuary 2/5/09 -- Cantu appealed to the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit. John was born February 14, 1952 in Victoria to Francisco Cantu and Andrea Flores Cantu. Raul was an acquaintance of Efrain and was not known to the other gang members. Cantu, the first of five to be tried, convicted and condemned, will be the last to be executed. Several of Ertman's ribs were broken from being kicked.
With the final execution completed, Pena said the two murdered girls can finally have peace. Nearly two decades after friends and relatives frantically distributed flyers offering a $10,000 reward for help finding the teenagers who failed to return home from a summer pool party, prosecutor Donna Goode still has one in her office. 1339, 113 L.Ed.2d 271 (1991). Tuesday he paid for it with his life.
Lock - U.S. Customs and Border Protection In related points of error fifteen, sixteen and seventeen, appellant argues that the trial court erred in denying his requested charges that the jury must give effect to mitigating evidence and that the jury must consider youth and mental health as mitigating. He raped Jennifer and was later sentenced to 40 years for aggravated sexual assault, which was the maximum sentence for a juvenile. The district court, in turn, evaluated the state court's conclusion that the arguments were proper under the due process standard. Article 37.071 2(f)(4) defines mitigating evidence to be evidence that a juror might regard as reducing the defendant's moral blameworthiness. (Emphasis added.) However, his request for a mistrial was thereafter denied. On February 4, 2009, the district court denied habeas relief in a particularly thoughtful and thorough memorandum and order.
Appellant asked them if they wanted to get some, but Roman told him that he did not rape or kill girls. Cantu's assertion, however, invites us to look only at a single item of evidence and to ignore all of the remaining evidence in the case. Are you going to kill him, because as we told you on voir dire he has a life sentence as soon as you found him guilty. Preceded in death by his parents, five brothers: Isidro, Ben, Jacinto, Tiofilo, and Pablo Cantu, four sisters: Janie Arguijo, Julia Flores, Frances Arguijo, Lupe Cantu, grandson: Matthew Cantu, four greatgrandchildren: Rosando Cantu, Emily Marquez, Jacob Benitez, Jasmine Cadena. Ertman made the drive here four years ago for the first execution. During this arraignment, the State read the indictment, and the court asked appellant how he pled. We decline to revisit this issue here. They should have hung them. ), cert. Prior to the trial's opening statements, appellant objected that any testimony regarding the kidnapping, robbery, sexual assault, or murder of Pena constituted evidence of extraneous offenses. Court appeals to delay the punishment appeared exhausted. 2/9/94 -- After a separate penalty hearing, Cantu was sentenced to death.
The law should be provided by the trial court in the jury charge, not by questioning the witnesses. He was nice enough to ask permission from a contractor working next door before doing the deed, according to an arrest warrant affidavit. Proc. Pete Cantu in Texas. 946, 952 (5th Cir.2004) (emphasis added); cf. You are instructed that, in considering the mitigating factors in answering the special issues, you are to consider the Defendant's youth as a mitigating factor.. After police informed Cantu that one of the other participants fully confessed, Cantu gave his second statement, in which he described how both girls were killed. Evidence at trial showed appellant's actions with respect to this offense were of a calculated and deliberate nature. The phone transferred the photos to her online account, and she shared them on Facebook. Fourteen-year-old Venancio watched as the others raped both girls until Cantu told him that he should get some. The girls were still being raped when Cantu whispered to Venancio, Were going to have to kill them. When everyone was finished, Cantu told them to take the girls into the woods where they proceeded to strangle them. He was friendly and never met a stranger. Because appellant did not specify at trial which complaint he was asserting, his objection was not sufficiently specific to preserve review on appeal. It noted that graphic crime scene photographs do not offend due process principles when they serve[ ] to illustrate and make more understandable the officers' testimony which described the [scene] and its condition, and the location and condition of the deceased's body and the nature and extent of the injuries to the deceased. Cantu, 2009 WL 275172, at *23 (alterations in original) (quoting Woods v. Johnson, 75 F.3d 1017, 1039 (5th Cir.1996)). Because our analysis involves a review of the district court's resolution of Cantu's constitutional claims, we must take account of the deferential lens through which the district court evaluated those claims. We held:
denied, 495 U.S. 940, 110 S.Ct. The State then cross-examined this witness about several death row prisoners committing subsequent violent crimes, and two, including the infamous and notorious Kenneth McDuff, getting out on parole and committing murders.
For a rational jury to find that appellant was guilty only of murder, some evidence must exist in the record that appellant did not commit sexual assault, robbery, or kidnapping or did not kill during the commission of or in the immediate flight from committing any of these offenses. His only supporters were a handful of death penalty abolitionists who showed up to protest capital punishment in general. They were friends who attended the same high school in Houston, Texas, Waltrip High School. March 11, 2019. Research has proven that the death penalty (fighting violence with violence) fails to prevent, deter or reduce vio 600, 121 L.Ed.2d 537 (1992). Peter Anthony Cantu is a 35 year old Hispanic male, scheduled to be executed on August 17th in Texas. 2052, and, notably, the mere possibility of a different outcome is not sufficient to prevail on [this] prong, Crane v. Johnson, 178 F.3d 309, 312 (5th Cir.1999). Appellant adopts Justice Blackmun's arguments in his dissenting opinion on the denial of certiorari in Callins v. Collins, 510 U.S. 1141, 114 S.Ct. WebPete Cantu was born on April 9, 1914. Although the record reveals that several of the statements complained of were made before appellant arrived at the house, similar statements were still being expressed when he did arrive. 2950, 49 L.Ed.2d 929 (1976), except to incorporate the dictates of Penry v. Lynaugh, 492 U.S. 302, 109 S.Ct. 1997). ADDITIONAL LINKS In making this comparison, the prosecution referred to the challenged photographs. Cantus execution was the third connected with the case. Excessive . The special pleas, if any, shall be read by the defendant's counsel, and if the plea of not guilty is also relied upon, it shall also be stated. Re-roof permit no change in pitch deck or tile roof to comply w/udc and irc codes. Point of error five is overruled. Barnes v. State, 876 S.W.2d 316, 329 (Tex.Crim.App. That's what they're doing; they're arguing nothing. Point of error twenty-nine is overruled. A reading of the record of the cross-examination shows appellant is mistaken: the State's emphasis was on appellant's future dangerousness while in prison.
Pete Cantu - Lubbock, Texas, United States | Professional Profile We hold that the inclusion of the latter instruction satisfied the constitutional deficiency appellant avers was created by the inclusion of the intoxication instruction. 78 and Loop 1604. denied, 510 U.S. 1215, 114 S.Ct.
Focus for the victims' families now turns to the remaining three killers. In his thirty-ninth and fortieth points of error, appellant alleges that Article 44.251(a) is facially unconstitutional when taken together with Article 37.071 2(a) because the former requires a sufficiency review of the latter. In response to the study, a district court judge held that the statute unconstitutionally permitted the arbitrary and unguided imposition of the death penalty. Peter Cantu, on Death Row since 1994, executed by the State of Texas on 17 th August 2010. "I was the last parent to have seen them," she said. We also note that the Texas death penalty scheme has been amended, at least in part, to address concerns raised by the Supreme Court. Proc. [THE STATE:] And how did he agree with them? It is not enough that the jury may disbelieve crucial evidence pertaining to the greater offense. Log in or sign up for Facebook to connect with friends, family and people you know.
In fact, death row rules were changed to allow families to watch executions because of this case. See Beazley v. Johnson, 242 F.3d 248, 260 (5th Cir.2001) (The definition of mitigating evidence does not limit the evidence considered under the third special issue (whether mitigating circumstances warrant a life, rather than a death, sentence).); see also Roach v. Quarterman, 220 Fed.Appx. No, not in the least. [DEFENSE:] Excuse me, [prosecutor's name omitted]. They were kicked, teeth knocked out and hair pulled out and ribs broken. ), cert. Therefore, the question in the instant case is whether the evidence presented was admissible under our capital sentencing scheme.
Volunteer Awards - border olympics Appellant's thirty-ninth and fortieth points of error are overruled. Point of error forty-two is overruled. In related point of error thirty-one, appellant avers that the trial court erred in denying his requested charge informing the jury that he would receive a life sentence should they fail to agree on the answer to any one of the punishment issues. He gave the police the names of all of the perpetrators, except for new initiate Villareal, who he did not know. The gang then drank beer and engaged in horseplay. 1224th murderer executed in U.S. since 1976
If there is the mitigation, is it sufficient, sufficient to rise to the level that you want to take this man, [appellant], and show him some mercy. ), cert. Tuilaepa v. California, 512 U.S. 967, 114 S.Ct. Both of these claims are governed by the familiar Strickland standard. [THE STATE:] So, at some point did they move on from talking about what they did to them sexually and tell you that they killed them? denied, 512 U.S. 1246, 114 S.Ct. Appellant's specific complaint seems to be racial discrimination based on the race of the victim in that he notes that appellant is Hispanic and the named victim was white. Johnson v. State, 803 S.W.2d 272, 292 (Tex.Crim.App.1990), cert. A 14-year-old attacker was given a 40-year sentence. Evidence of extraneous offenses admitted included that Cantu stole a bicycle from an eight-year-old and then turned it in for a reward; that Cantu threatened a woman and broke a window in her home; that Cantu attacked a sixth-grade teacher; that Cantu threatened another students father, saying that he wanted to kill him; that Cantu created problems at school by fighting and cursing; that Cantu threatened to kill an officer of the law; and that Cantu made threats at a hospital and in jail. In related point twenty-three, he further alleges that the trial court's charge on unadjudicated offenses requires reversal because there is no way for this Court to meaningfully review the sufficiency of the evidence. KELLER, J., concurs in the result on point of error eight and joins in the remainder of the opinion. Article 27.16 states that:
At this point, the Sandoval brothers decided that it was time to leave. A memorial was erected to them at Waltrip High School, which they attended. No crime warrants a sentence of death. denied, 492 U.S. 912, 109 S.Ct. ), cert. On the night of 24 June 1993, a group of teenage boys gathered at T.C. The Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act (AEDPA) requires a petitioner to obtain a COA in order to appeal the district court's denial of his habeas petition. The Mexican-American community was outraged by the death and Torres's family demanded justice.
Texas Rule of Criminal Evidence 610(b) provides: a witness may be cross-examined on any matter relevant to any issue in the case, including credibility. The trial court has discretion as to the extent of cross-examination of a witness for the showing of bias or as to credibility, and its decision is not subject to reversal on appeal absent a clear abuse of discretion. The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals affirmed Cantu's conviction in a direct appeal on January 29, 1997. Andrea Gorfolova. Hence, the second prong of Rousseau was not met in this instance either, and appellant was not entitled to a lesser-included charge of murder. "They left my house and they were supposed to go home," Rios said.
Lawton, 913 S.W.2d at 557; McFarland, 928 S.W.2d at 497-99. Cantu additionally argued to the district court that he was entitled to a lesser-included instruction on simple murder; however, he does not argue that he is entitled to such an instruction in his petition for COA. Any subsequent references to Articles are to those in the Texas Code of Criminal Procedure unless otherwise identified. Cantu had left his wallet at . County of Offense: Harris
(AP August 17, 2010). The statements in question made in the presence of appellant were admissible as adopted admissions under Tex.R.Crim. Holdings: The Court of Appeals held that:
During that conversation, Joe Cantu testified appellant agreed he had killed both girls and stomped on their necks. Four of the other assailants that night were also convicted of capital murder and sentenced to death. Meanwhile, Jennifer Ertman and sixteen-year-old Elizabeth Pena, who were visiting a girlfriend, decided to head home, taking a shortcut across the railroad tracks. The prosecutor then asked Martinez if she had written the above cited letter to Perez, to which question she replied that she had. The extraneous offenses that were admitted included:
1115, 130 L.Ed.2d 1079 (1995); McFarland, supra. In his tenth point of error, appellant contends that the trial court erred in denying appellant's request for expert assistance to challenge the constitutionality of the special issues at the punishment phase. 1127, 127 L.Ed.2d 435 (1994), in support of his argument that capital punishment is violative of the United States Constitution. 71,557, slip op. Condolences for the family may be offered at www.holmgreenmortuaryinc.com and shared via Holmgreen Mortuary Facebook. With the circumscribed nature of our review in mind, we now turn to the merits of Cantu's petition. While this standard may be met if the evidence would permit a finding contrary to that establishing Cantu's participation in the actual murders, see Aguilar, 428 F.3d at 531, our interpretation of Beck requires a trial court judge to consider all of the evidence in the case as a whole in determining whether a rational jury could have found the defendant not guilty of capital murder but guilty of a lesser-included offense, Campbell v. Dretke, 117 Fed.Appx. In response to her friends cries, Jennifer ran back to help, but Cantu grabbed her and dragged her down the hill as well. Authorities later linked him and O'Brien to a killing six months before the attack on Ertman and Pena. The suggestion, given the context in which it was made, cannot be characterized as a misstatement of the law, even assuming, arguendo, appellant's assertion on this point is correct. The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals summarized the facts adduced during Cantus punishment trial as follows: Several witnesses testified Cantu had a history of violent behavior and offenses. See Lawton, supra. He made off with two cases of Budweiser beer and about 140 DVDs before police caught up with him.Read more: Police: Man rammed car into Dollar General, stole Budweiser, , 37, of Universal City, was arrested outside a Whataburger on Pat Booker Road April 30, 2014. 2/4/09 -- The federal district court denied relief. Cantu asked them if they wanted to get some, but Roman told him that he did not rape or kill girls. Also gone is natural gas pioneer George Mitchell, who passed . Ertman got away, but Medellin grabbed Pena and dragged her down off the hill. In light of the district court's thorough analysis, we cannot say that reasonable jurists would disagree with that determination and, therefore, deny a COA on this issue. 2937, 124 L.Ed.2d 686 (1993); Gaddis v. State, 753 S.W.2d 396 (Tex.Crim.App.1988). He married. Section 2(f)(4) stated:
Cantu then sought state post-conviction relief.
Peter Cantu was the self-appointed leader of a gang in Houston that met on the night of June 24, 1993, to initiate a new member, Raul Villareal. At his sentencing for the Ertman-Pena case, the judge asked Cantu if there was any reason the sentence shouldn't be imposed. Pete Cantu - Lubbock, Texas, United States | Professional Profile | LinkedIn View Pete Cantu's professional profile on LinkedIn. Extraneous victim impact evidence, if anything, is more prejudicial than the non-extraneous victim impact evidence found by this Court to be inadmissible in Smith, supra.
Velocity Network's Show "Texas Metal" Season 2 Cast and Crew The district court noted that the prosecution was seeking to counteract Cantu's mitigating evidence by bringing attention to the victims and comparing the legal process by which Cantu might receive a death penalty to the brutality of the murders committed by Cantu. They knew they would be late if they took the normal path home, down W. 34th Street to T.C. [APPELLANT:] May we have a running objection to the out of court statements, judge? The medical examiner testified that Elizabeth's two front teeth were knocked out of her brutalized mouth before she died and that two of Jennifer's ribs were broken after she had died. You know, if you got the law you argue the law, if you got the facts you argue the facts, if you don't have either the law or the facts you don't have anything. Mines v. State, 888 S.W.2d 816 (Tex.Crim.App.1994), cert.
Anderson v. State, 932 S.W.2d 502, 509 (Tex.Crim.App.1996). Three dozen supporters cheered as the families emerged after the execution. She told him that she felt sorry for the families and wanted them to be able to put their daughters' bodies to rest. 52(a). One of the deputies exited his vehicle and chased after Cantu, who then doubled back to the deputy's vehicle and drove off into Comal County. The police were then able to find the badly decomposed remains of Ms. Ertman and Ms. Pena.
at 1096, clearly indicated that an indigent defendant does not have a constitutional right to receive funds to hire his own expert. Both men apologized for the crime in their last statements. Accordingly, appellant waived any error by his failure to object to the procedure used by the trial court in its entering of his plea before the jury.
If you decide that an aspect of the Defendant's character and record or circumstances of the crime is a mitigating circumstance, you must not give it aggravating effect. See Heitman, supra. However, he contends that a meaningful review of the mitigation issue is impossible. (806) 763-5556. denied, 514 U.S. 1005, 115 S.Ct. denied, 506 U.S. 999, 113 S.Ct.
Maria Cantu Hexsel 221 West 6" Street, Suite 1800 Jennifer Buntz GERMER GERTZ .
Pedro Cantu (@pedro_cantu_97) Instagram photos and videos After unsuccessfully appealing his conviction in state court and failing to obtain state post-conviction relief, Cantu filed a petition for habeas corpus in the United Stated District Court for the Southern District of Texas. And if you care to, you can see the result of this defendant's handy work again. The instant case is distinguishable from Payne, Ford and Smith as Pena was not the victim named in the indictment.