Texas executes Ivan Cantu, who denied killing 2 people
Texas inmate Ivan Cantu, who had long claimed his conviction was based on false testimony and questionable evidence, was executed for killing two people, including his cousin.
A Texas man was executed Wednesday despite his and his attorney's claims that his 2001 conviction for killing his cousin and his cousin's girlfriend was based on questionable evidence and false testimony.
Ivan Cantu died Wednesday evening at the Huntsville State Penitentiary by lethal injection.
His death was confirmed in a statement by Collin County Prosecutor Greg Willis: “After two decades of multiple reviews of his conviction, by both state and federal courts, Ivan Cantu finally found justice,” he posted on Twitter.
Cantu, born in Dallas 50 years ago, was convicted of the death in Dallas in 2000 of his cousin, James Mosqueda, 27; and Amy Kitchen, Mosqueda’s fiancee, 22 years old. Cantu was 28 years old at the time.
According to a statement from the Texas Department of Criminal Justice, Cantu’s last words were addressed to the Mosqueda and Kitchen families, and it included the statement, "I want you to know that I never killed James and Amy," adding that if he would have know who did, they would have been the first to know.
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