We may issue a COA only if the petitioner makes a substantial showing of the denial of a constitutional right. Id. This time, it will be the lethal injection on Tuesday of Peter Anthony Cantu, the leader of the five young men who were sentenced to die for the June 1993 murders of 14-year-old Jennifer Ertman and 16-year-old Elizabeth Pena. He. Other than reurging his assertion that his trial counsel rendered ineffective assistance for failing to object to the prosecution's argument, Cantu raises no additional argument in his petition for COA. One of the gang members grabbed Pena. "They are still in our hearts and prayers.". For a rational jury to find that appellant was guilty only of sexual assault, robbery, or kidnapping, there must be some evidence in the record that appellant did not intend to kill the victim. Pete will be remembered for his infectious laugh and loving personality. 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. Appellant, along with his co-defendants, brutally raped, strangled, and stomped the two girls to death. 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. "I told him to stick it. What did he say? These girls went through an awful lot of pain when they died," said Adolfo Pena, father of Elizabeth. "Put it this way: I wish my daughter could have died the way he died today. (Aug. 17, 2010, 10:41PM). Citations: (AP August 17, 2010). However, enough tissue did exist for the medical examiner to determine that the girls had died of a trauma to the neck which was consistent with strangulation. [WITNESS:] Yes. Later that night, Perez, Villareal, and Jose Medellin met at the house where Cantu lived with his older brother and sister-in-law, Joe and Christina Cantu. at 694, 104 S.Ct. Pedro Cantu. Christina subsequently convinced her husband to report the incident to the police. Cantu was the 16th person to be put to death by the state of Texas this year. They decided to take a shortcut across the railroad tracks. 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. Valerie Nicole. at 1096, clearly indicated that an indigent defendant does not have a constitutional right to receive funds to hire his own expert. Ertman was robbed of her rings, necklaces, and cash. Counsel for Defendant D&W Painting, Inc. Richard H. Grafton T. Mark Rogstad Paul Byron Starr WRIGHT & GREENHILL, P.C. denied, 510 U.S. 1215, 114 S.Ct. 1978, 131 L.Ed.2d 866 (1995). (internal quotation marks omitted). Therefore, we hold the first prong is met as to each offense. Roman's brother, Frank, and Joe's fourteen-year-old brother, Venancio, were also present. We decline to do so. Pedro was born on November 5, 1924 in Floresville, Texas to Vincente and Tiadosa Robles Cantu. Appellant cites no authority for why he should have been entitled to such an instruction. Best Match Powered by Whitepages Premium AGE 80+ Pete Cantu Edinburg, TX Aliases Pedro O Cantu View Full Report Addresses N 19th Ave, Edinburg, TX We have already decided these issues adversely to appellant. See also, Lackey v. State, 819 S.W.2d 111 (Tex.Crim.App.1989) (not error to fail to instruct jury to consider specifically appellant's age as a mitigating factor because the jury's answer as to special issue two (future dangerousness) would reflect their consideration of all the mitigating evidence); Jackson v. State, 822 S.W.2d 18 (Tex.Crim.App.1990). A 14-year-old attacker was given a 40-year sentence. See 466 U.S. 668, 687, 104 S.Ct. Capital One Plaza 5718 Westheimer, Suite 1750 701 Brazos, Suite 1500 Houston, Texas 77057 Austin, Texas 78701 Counsel for Defendant [D/Guerra, L.P. Also gone is natural gas pioneer George Mitchell, who passed . Feb.4, 2009). FN11. Appellant again attacks the constitutionality of Article 37.071 2(e) in point of error forty-two alleging that it invites the open-ended discretion condemned by the United States Supreme Court in Furman v. Georgia, 408 U.S. 238, 92 S.Ct. pete cantu texas metal. [W]hether the defendant actually caused the death of the deceased or did not actually cause the death of the deceased but intended to kill the deceased or another or anticipated that a human life would be taken. See Darden v. Wainwright, 477 U.S. 168, 181, 106 S.Ct. Three of the animals who did this are gone, but you know it doesn't really make you feel any better," Pena said. 37.071 2(b) and 2(e), the trial judge sentenced appellant to death.FN2 Article 37.071 2(g). Houston police researched older cases and found a possible match with the unsolved murder of Patricia Lourdes Lopez. LAST NOTE PRODUCTIONS-Pete Cantu part 2 of 4Elgin's 23rd annual Hogeye Festival elgin Texas 10-23-2010. The witness replied in the negative. Executed August 17, 2010 06:17 p.m. CDT by Lethal Injection in Texas, 36th murderer executed in U.S. in 2010 Your email will not be used for any other purpose. When everyone was finished, Cantu told the boys to take the girls into the woods. We conclude that reasonable jurists would not disagree on this matter. Appellant's argument in effect is that a jury should be instructed to consider only mitigating evidence when addressing this special issue. Any subsequent references to Articles are to those in the Texas Code of Criminal Procedure unless otherwise identified. Given the sparsity of the victim impact evidence, the fact that it was not mentioned by the State during arguments (appellant did briefly refer to this testimony during his punishment arguments), and the overwhelming focus during the punishment phase on appellant's behavior and the circumstances of the offense, we conclude the victim impact evidence made no contribution to punishment. Johnson, supra, at 135. He did not look toward the witnesses and made no last statement. at 826-28, 111 S.Ct. He was friendly and never met a stranger. 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). Your email address will not be published. Proc. In point three, appellant avers that the trial court erred in prohibiting him from introducing testimony that he would have to serve 35 calendar years before becoming parole eligible if sentenced to life imprisonment. Points of error eighteen and nineteen are overruled. Now, Cantu seeks a COA on five of the issues he raised below. "At least some of the scumbags are dead. In his petition for COA, Cantu argues that admitting the photographs violated due process-and, therefore, his counsel was ineffective-because the prejudicial effect of the photos greatly outweighed their probative value. 2253(c)(1). We further note that appellant made no request for such a special verdict form and no objection was made to the instruction given at trial. 2. 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. 1339, 113 L.Ed.2d 271 (1991). 2. Seven minutes later, O'Brien was dead. However, the protesters in attendance did little more than annoy the families. Therefore, the question in the instant case is whether the evidence presented was admissible under our capital sentencing scheme. With this standard in mind, we turn to Cantu's specific ineffectiveness arguments. The girls were still on the tracks when they encountered the group of boys. 2658, 125 L.Ed.2d 290 (1993). Appellant avers in point fourteen that the mitigation issue set forth in Article 37.071 2(e) is unconstitutional in that it does not require jury consideration of mitigation evidence when answering it. This issue reads as follows: can stop at any time. Id. Conversely, jury argument must be extreme or manifestly improper, or inject new and harmful facts into evidence to constitute reversible error. Sonnier v. State, 913 S.W.2d 511, 520-21 (Tex.Crim.App.1995); McFarland v. State, 928 S.W.2d 482 (Tex.Crim.App.1996). However, because his last objection was specifically to hearsay, we will address the point on this ground. THE COURT: Yes, sir. denied, 490 U.S. 1102, 109 S.Ct. The victims' families attended the execution, but no one attended on his behalf. Does she have blond hair?!!?" Two of the six assailants had their death sentences commuted to life in prison when the U.S. Supreme Court barred capital punishment for those who commit crimes under the age of 18. Instagram Contact Us Check out some new shirts! County of Offense: Harris Derrick Sean O'Brien was executed in July 2006. His second requested charge is also a misstatement of the law in that Penry v. Lynaugh, 492 U.S. 302, 109 S.Ct. Article 37.071 2(e) yields further support to this interpretation in that it requires the court to instruct the jury to take into consideration all of the evidence, including the circumstances of the offense, the defendant's character and background, and the personal moral culpability of the defendant (emphasis added) in determining whether sufficient mitigating circumstances exist to warrant a life sentence. Rousseau, 855 S.W.2d at 687, n. 26. Appellant then requested and received an instruction to the jury to disregard the comment. In support of his argument, appellant explains that prior to trial, he filed a Motion to Provide Funds for Expert Assistance-Jury Study. By his motion, appellant proposed that the trial court should provide him funds with which he could hire a scholar who would study a sample of jurors and their understanding of the special punishment issues. The Ertman and Pena killings led to five death sentences, at the time the most of any crime in modern American history. Thus, the Supreme Court held: [I]f the State chooses to permit the admission of victim impact evidence and prosecutorial argument on that subject, the Eighth Amendment erects no per se bar. Pete Cantu. 2597, 115 L.Ed.2d 720 (1991). Santikos, supra; Dinkins v. State, 894 S.W.2d 330, 340 (Tex.Crim.App.1995), cert. 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. 17 Episodes 2019. He was on probation for assault in connection with an incident at the Astrodome parking lot in which he threatened another youth with a knife. 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. Appellant objected to the attack over Counsel's shoulder, which objection the trial court sustained. Thus, reasonable jurists would not-and have not-disagreed with the district court's resolution of this claim, and we deny a COA as to this issue. See Tucker v. State, 771 S.W.2d 523, 535 n. 5 (Tex.Crim.App.1988), cert. In the instant case, it is evident the prosecutor did not inject any new facts into the proceeding, much less new facts that could be deemed prejudicial or harmful. The other gang members present were Roman Sandoval, Joe Medellin, Efrian Perez, and Derrick Sean O'Brien. Appellant objected that this was improper impeachment on a collateral matter. 'Gonzalez' said that his brother was one of the six people involved in killing the girls, and gave police the names of all but one, the new recruit, whom he did not know. The medical examiner later testified that this is how she could be sure as to the horrible brutality of the rapes, beatings and murders. The inferences drawn by the prosecutor from the evidence were not so extreme or improper as to rise to the level of reversible error. The admission of such evidence would open the door to admission of victim impact evidence arising from any extraneous offense committed by a defendant. She testified that appellant was friendly to her and never mistreated or was disrespectful to her. Very brutal, very slow, tortured, a senseless killing. There is no reason to treat such evidence differently than other relevant evidence is treated. Hence, appellant's point of error thirty is overruled. ), cert. [F]irst, the lesser included offense must be included within the proof necessary to establish the offense charged, and, second, some evidence must exist in the record that would permit a jury rationally to find that if the defendant is guilty, he is guilty only of the lesser offense. VICTORIA John M. Cantu Sr., 69 years of age, passed away Saturday May 29, 2021 at 10:40pm. And then ask yourself another question. denied, 513 U.S. 1021, 115 S.Ct. Point of error forty-four is overruled. SAN ANTONIO A man suspected of stealing an unmarked Bexar County Sheriffs Office cruiser during a chase Tuesday was arrested New Braunfels Wednesday morning. Post author: Post published: junho 10, 2022 Post category: comcast central division leadership Post comments: semi pro football tulsa semi pro football tulsa I love you too Pete, may you find peace wherever you are, finally you are free. 315 Followers, 680 Following, 22 Posts - See Instagram photos and videos from Pedro Cantu (@pedro_cantu_97) pedro_cantu_97. He lasted through three fights before briefly losing consciousness. He also parceled out the jewelry and money he took from the girls. Munoz allegedly stole more than 100 beers, along with cigarettes and rolling paper at a Valero Corner Store in the 1200 block of Probandt Street, according to an arrest warrant affidavit. Appellant has given us no reason to revisit our analyses in these cases, nor has he shown us any distinguishing evidence in the record or provided us with any other reason why these cases should not control in the instant case. Looking at the evidence in the light most favorable to the jury's verdict, the record reveals the following facts: Appellant was the self-appointed leader of a gang called the Black and Whites in Houston.