HOUSTON (AP) — A Texas judge has stopped next week's scheduled execution of a death row inmate who has long said he's innocent so there can be more time to review his claims that he was convicted more than 20 years ago with false testimony and questionable evidence.
Ivan Cantu had been condemned for the fatal shooting of his cousin, James Mosqueda, 27, and his cousin’s girlfriend, Amy Kitchen, 22, during a November 2000 robbery at their north Dallas home. Cantu has long claimed he is innocent.
Cantu, 49, had been set for execution April 26. But state District Judge Benjamin Smith in Collin County, where Cantu was convicted, on Wednesday withdrew the execution date, saying more review is needed of the inmate’s new claims.
Bill Wirskye, first assistant district attorney with the Collin County District Attorney’s Office, declined to comment.
“Because Mr. Cantu’s case raises troubling questions that undermine the integrity of the conviction, the court’s decision to withdraw the execution date to permit further review was the appropriate next step,” Gena Bunn, Cantu’s attorney, said in a statement on Friday.
Sylvia Cantu, Ivan Cantu’s mother, said she remains hopeful “that all of this new evidence will finally be heard in court so that Ivan can come home.”
Two of the jurors who convicted Cantu have submitted declarations stating they now have doubts about the case.
“I do not want the execution of Mr. Cantu to be carried out unless a careful and thorough review of the evidence...
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