The state of Texas has executed Ivan Cantu, 50, who was convicted of murdering his cousin and his cousin’s fiancee.
His death by lethal injection came just hours after Idaho delayed the execution of serial killer Thomas Eugene Creech because a medical team reportedly failed to find a vein into which they could insert the IV carrying the lethal dose.
Cantu died more than 20 years after his conviction, while Creech, 73, is one of the longest serving death-row inmates in the country.
The state of Texas has executed Ivan Cantu, 50, who was convicted of murdering his cousin and his cousin’s fiancee
Thomas Eugene Creech, 73, had his execution in Idaho delayed Wednesday after the medical team failed eight times to find a vein
Cantu died by lethal injection on Wednesday evening, his time of death was recorded as 6.47pm according to the Texas Department of Criminal Justice.
Up until the moment of his death, Cantu’s advocates were fighting for a halt on the execution so that the inmate could argue he was deprived of a fair trial.
In his telling, he was framed by those who were actually responsible for the killing his cousin James Mosqueda, and Mosquenda’s fiancee, Amy Kitchen in 2000.
Prior to his death, the convicted killer received the backing of celebrity criminal justice reform advocate Kim Kardashian, as well as actor Martin Sheen, who’d hoped to stall the court-mandated killing.
Cantu’s fingerprint was found on the magazine inside the gun that was used to kill Mosqueda and Kitchen.
DNA analysis also showed blood on jeans found in Cantu’s trash can belonged to the victims.
Since his trial, however, Cantu and his attorneys have claimed that false testimony was presented at trial by a key witness for the state, who has since recanted.
They also claim that Cantu was the victim of ineffective assistance of counsel, predicated in large part on his trial attorney’s failure to call a single witness during the guilt-innocence phase of his trial.
Prosecutors, however, reject these claims and others, arguing repeatedly that they have not seen or heard anything that would ‘impugn the integrity of the guilty verdict.’
Greg Willis, the District Attorney of Collin County, says he remains ‘fully convinced’ of Cantu’s guilt.
‘It’s my firm belief that justice has been done in this case and that a Collin County jury’s verdict should be carried out on February 28th,’ he said ahead of the execution.
Creech’s execution was delayed in the latest example of a state struggling to carry out the process because of an inability to establish an IV line