Evidence concerning her sexual assault, robbery and murder is admissible as same transaction contextual evidence. All Rights Reserved. 1317, 131 L.Ed.2d 198 (1995). They should have hung them. Appellant then parceled out jewelry and money he had taken from the girls. The indictment or information shall be read to the jury by the attorney prosecuting. He was pronounced dead at 6:17 p.m. 2954, 57 L.Ed.2d 973 (1978). In his argument, appellant basically urges this Court to re-evaluate its prior holdings that Article 37.07 does not apply to capital cases and that the admission of unadjudicated extraneous offenses at the sentencing phase of a capital trial does not offend the Eighth and Fourteenth Amendments. 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. Cantu v. State, 939 S.W.2d 627 (Tex.Crim.App. The police helicopter was flying over the park and this apparently prompted Mr. 'Gonzalez' to make a 911 call, directing the search to move to the other side of the bayou. Jail. "We can say its the end, but its never going to be closure," Adolfo Pena, Elizabeths father, said afterward. Jester Park, about two dozen people gathered around a pair of flower-covered memorial benches to remember the murdered teens. In light of the record as a whole, the error in precluding the jury from being informed about the parole ineligibility provision was no doubt harmless. Rousseau, 855 S.W.2d at 687, n. 26. 315 Followers, 680 Following, 22 Posts - See Instagram photos and videos from Pedro Cantu (@pedro_cantu_97) pedro_cantu_97. Messages run for up to one year and you In concluding that the state court did not unreasonably apply clearly established federal law, the district court explained Simmons's limited holding-that when the alternative sentence to death is life without parole due process plainly requires that [the defendant] be allowed to bring [parole ineligibility] to the jury's attention. Cantu, 2009 WL 275172, at *6 (quoting Simmons, 512 U.S. at 169, 114 S.Ct. Unfortunately, he revealed on Instagram . Appellant walked in as the rest were recounting their exploits to his older brother and sister-in-law, Joe and Christina Cantu, in graphic detail. Summary of incident: Convicted in the abductions and murders of Jennifer Ertman, 14, and Elizabeth Pena, 16, in Houston. PEDRO CANTU OBITUARY Pedro "Pete" Cantu Jr. passed away at 7:00 AM Tuesday, March 19, 2019 at Our Lady of the Lake Regional Medical Center in Baton Rouge at the age of 63 surrounded by his.
Cantu, the first of five to be tried, convicted and condemned, will be the last to be executed. He was charged with unlawfully carrying a weapon. The rapes and murders of Jennifer Lee Ertman and Elizabeth Christine Pea, two teenage girls from Houston, Texas, aged 14 and 16, respectively, occurred on June 24, 1993.The murder of the two girls made headlines in Texas newspapers due to the nature of the crime and the new law resulting from the murder that allows families of the victims to view the execution of the murderers. This scheme does not create the paradoxical commands of concern to Justice Blackmun. [WITNESS:] I did that. The instant case is distinguishable from Payne, Ford and Smith as Pena was not the victim named in the indictment. 803(23) as statements against interest, corroborated by appellant's own responding actions and the co-defendants' possession of the victims' jewelry and the blood on the co-defendants' clothing when they came to the Cantu residence. Every memory left on the online obituary will be automatically included in the book. His knowledge of the crimes came from the killers themselves, most of whom came to his home after the murders, bragging and swapping the jewelry they had stolen from the girls. They pulled on the belt, one boy on each side, until the belt broke. Eventually, all of the individuals who participated in the gang rape and murder were arrested and most of the jewelry was recovered, including some from appellant's bedroom. 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. denied, 513 U.S. 1157, 115 S.Ct.
2052, 80 L.Ed.2d 674 (1984). Medellin and O'Brian each apologized prior to their respective executions, but Pena said he did not expect an apology from Cantu on his deathbed and he was not surprised when he did not get one. The district court, in turn, evaluated the state court's conclusion that the arguments were proper under the due process standard. The testimony of M. Pena consisted of her telling the jury about her family and showing the jury pictures of the victim's sixteenth birthday party. This Court recently applied the Ake standard as it relates to a defendant asserting an insanity defense and rejected the notion that a court's expert necessarily fulfills the role of a psychiatric assistant to the indigent accused envisioned by Ake. De Freece v. State, 848 S.W.2d 150, 159 (Tex.Crim.App. The gang then drank beer and engaged in horseplay. 2937, 124 L.Ed.2d 686 (1993); Gaddis v. State, 753 S.W.2d 396 (Tex.Crim.App.1988). The juvenile, Venancio Medellin, pled guilty to his charge and his sentence was reviewed when he turned 18, at which time he was sent to serve the remainder of the sentence in prison. See Sonnier, supra. to the family or plant a tree As the evidence previously set out illustrates, appellant was the self-appointed leader of this gang. His own statement to a co-defendant expressly showed that he intended that the girls be killed, and testimony as to appellant's actions revealed his active participation in the killings. denied, 492 U.S. 912, 109 S.Ct. Once dead, the girls' bodies were left in the woods, and the gang members proceeded to Cantu's home, where they bragged of their crime to Cantu's brother and sister-in-law. Texas presents the question of mitigating evidence to a jury through article 37.071, sections 2(e)(1) and 2(f)(4) of the Texas Code of Criminal Procedure. See also Morris v. State, 940 S.W.2d 610, 615 (Tex.Crim.App.1996). He is preceded in death by his brothers, Alcardo Cantu, Jesus Cantu III; maternal grandfather, Juan Santos Acuna, and paternal grandparents, Jesus Cantu Sr. and Olivia Cantu. This murder was unsolved until after O'Brien was arrested for the murder of Jennifer Ertman and Elizabeth Pena. Meanwhile, fourteen-year-old Jennifer Ertman and sixteen-year-old Elizabeth Pena were visiting a girlfriend. 8. character evidence. 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. denied, 499 U.S. 932, 111 S.Ct. Maybe some satisfaction, but never closure.". We will not revisit the issue here. Keller and Womack, JJ., concurred in part, and concurred in result in part. The gist of the State's argument is the defense did not have any evidence in its favor, which is a proper response to defense counsel's just-completed argument that the evidence was insufficient to convict appellant of capital murder. However, the protesters in attendance did little more than annoy the families. The district court highlighted that the Supreme Court has itself refused to extend Simmons's holding beyond when, assuming the jury fixes the sentence at life, the defendant is ineligible for parole under state law. Ramdass v. Angelone, 530 U.S. 156, 166, 120 S.Ct. Arrangements are entrusted to Holmgreen Mortuary, 2061 East Main Street, Alice, Texas. Raul Omar Villareal and Efrain Perez were sentenced to death, but following the U.S. Supreme Court's 2005 ruling that executing criminals who were not yet 18 at the time of their crimes is unconstitutional, their sentences were commuted to life.
1029. They questioned Joe Cantu, who identified himself as both the 9-1-1 caller and the Crimestoppers tipster. Alva allegedly stole thousands of dollars from a law office on Broadway while patrolling. Estimate Request Form Condolences for the family may be offered at www.holmgreenmortuaryinc.com and shared via Holmgreen Mortuary Facebook. 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. This argument has been addressed and rejected by both this Court and the United States Supreme Court and we will not revisit it here. Now [defense counsel], I don't blame him. 2458, 104 L.Ed.2d 1013 (1989); Harris v. State, 827 S.W.2d 949, 962 (Tex.Crim.App. [WITNESS:] When one of them said, I made her suck my dick, he said, oh, yeah, I did that. "They left my house and they were supposed to go home," Rios said. In fact, by the very language of the statute, it requires a jury to consider all of the evidence. 1422, 122 L.Ed.2d 791 (1993); Tex.R.App. Ertman was robbed of her rings, necklaces, and cash. For the past year, he worked in Central Texas at KCBD's sister station KWTX. Appellant asserts in points twelve and thirteen that the Texas death penalty has been arbitrarily imposed and is unconstitutional because of the different capital sentencing schemes that have been in effect since the early 1970's. Finally and in the alternative, the district court noted that Cantu was not prejudiced by his counsel's failure to object because of the significant amount of punishment-phase evidence demonstrating Cantu's violence and the slim chance of his rehabilitation. 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. shall consider mitigating evidence to be evidence that a juror might regard as reducing the defendant's moral blameworthiness. A brief summary of the facts will be helpful. Ekstensive Metal Fabrication's 2016 Ford F-150 wasn't hammered "sold!" at Mecum Auctions' Houston event. 2/4/09 -- The federal district court denied relief. Johnson v. State, 604 S.W.2d 128, 135 (Tex.Crim.App.1980) (panel op.). All Rights Reserved. He told Venancio to stay behind, saying he was "too little to watch." 2765, 129 L.Ed.2d 879 (1994). We know that Pete Cantu had been residing in El Cerrito, Contra Costa County, California 94530. Prior Prison Record: Cantu is also serving a 10 year sentence in connection with an aggravated asault on a Houston man in January 1993. TEXAS PIPELINER Welder (STC) . 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. The parents of Ertman and Pena, supported by other family members and friends, looked on as Cantu stared straight up toward the ceiling, taking one deep breath before he closed his eyes. Associated Phone Numbers. Pedro Cantu III, 30, had been driving a BMW near Jenny and Villa Drives around 10:30 a.m. when police attempted to pull him over, according to the Sheriffs Office. I'm not going to show it to you. We will address the points as they are presented to us. [APPELLANT:] Excuse me, ma'am. ", The case horrified Houston. We held:
Gaddis, supra, at 398. The medical examiner later testified that this is how she could be sure as to the horrible brutality of the rapes, beatings and murders. Tuesday he paid for it with his life. [WITNESS:] Yeah. The gang members took Jenny and Elizabeth from the clearing into a wooded area, leaving the juvenile behind, saying he was "too little to watch". [WITNESS:] [Appellant], Joe, Junior and Raul. Below, Cantu additionally argued that the prosecution's sentencing-phase argument improperly limited the jury's consideration of mitigating evidence; however, he has conceded that argument in his present petition and, so far as his mitigation argument is concerned, seeks a COA only on whether Texas's method of presenting mitigation evidence to the jury is unconstitutional. Ex parte Cantu, No. Even if we assume that the prosecutor's statement was an improper comment, we conclude it was not so egregious that it was not cured by the instruction given to the jury to disregard it. She felt sorry for the families and wanted them to be able to put their daughters' bodies to rest. 37.071 2(b) and 2(e), the trial judge sentenced appellant to death.FN2 Article 37.071 2(g). See Photos. We noted, in Gaddis, supra, that counsel is allowed wide latitude in drawing inferences from the evidence so long as the inferences drawn are reasonable and offered in good faith. Both this Court in Hughes, 897 S.W.2d at 294, and the United States Supreme Court in Pulley v. Harris, 465 U.S. 37, 104 S.Ct. 2/23/98 --- Cantu filed an application for state writ of habeas corpus. In point of error nine, appellant complains that the trial court committed reversible error in failing to grant a mistrial following improper argument by the State. If the defendant refuses to plead, the plea of not guilty shall be entered for him by the court. A tip led authorities to the bodies. 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. "Put it this way: I wish my daughter could have died the way he died today. In fact, death row rules were changed to allow families to watch executions because of this case. 71,557, slip op. On December 13, 2006, the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals likewise denied Cantu's state habeas application after it adopted the trial court's findings of fact and conclusions of law in an unpublished order. Appellant, along with his co-defendants, brutally raped, strangled, and stomped the two girls to death. (Aug. 17, 2010, 10:41PM). Booty Patrol' truck spotted in South Texas, San Antonio woman shows strength of single moms on 'Naked and Afraid', Kyle to open first Costco Wholesale this March, Former Boerne quarterback allegedly gave plays to other XFL teams, A one-of-a-kind Hill Country rooftop bar will be a cowboy's dream, WATCH: Drunk driver attempts to flee crash that killed a Texas cop, Massive alligator shocks South Texas locals in Atascosa County. 2/4/10 -- Cantu filed a petition for certiorari review in the U.S. Supreme Court. At least they probably have a daughter they can go home to," Stacey said.
22 posts. Appellant specifically complains of the emphasized portion of the following argument: [THE STATE:] [I would] [l]ike to talk to you briefly about the issue of mitigation[.] Pete Cantu was a candidate for the Place 6 seat on the Donna Independent School District school board in Texas.Cantu was defeated in the by-district general election on November 8, 2016.. The girls were hurrying along railroad tracks in the dark in order to get home by their curfew. Point of error thirty-five is overruled. Our concern is that the indigent defendant have access to a competent psychiatrist for the purpose we have discussed, and as in the case of the provision of counsel we leave to the State the decision on how to implement this right. Known for Texas Metal 7.1 TV Series Self - Owner, '96 Impala SS (as Pedro 'Pete' Canti) 2021 1 ep Credits IMDbPro Self Previous 1 Texas Metal Self - Owner, '96 Impala SS (as Pedro 'Pete' Canti) TV Series 2021 1 episode Personal details Alternative name Pedro 'Pete' Canti Contribute to this page Suggest an edit or add missing content
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