Both Tison and Enmund were concerned with the implementation of the death penalty on defendants who were not proven to have an intent to kill. 3. the forethought and deliberateness exhibited by the crime's execution; 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. 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. We hold this requisite to be applicable to non-psychiatric experts as well. 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. 2934, 106 L.Ed.2d 256 (1989); Johnson v. Texas, 509 U.S. 350, 113 S.Ct. Two who were 17 when the girls were killed were spared the death penalty when the U.S. Supreme Court barred execution of people who were under 18 when they committed their crimes. 2216 91st St, Lubbock, TX 79423 921 Adrian St, Lubbock, TX 79403 2311 49th St, Lubbock, TX 79412. On that June night, the girls were hoping to beat an 11:30 p.m. curfew by taking a shortcut home to Pena's northwest Houston neighborhood. In a thorough and well-reasoned memorandum and order, the district court denied habeas relief and, sua sponte, declined to issue a certificate of appealability on any of the issues raised by Cantu. We have already decided these issues against appellant. When the jury was brought back in, the State again asked if the witness thought the killing of the two girls was funny. 65,334-01, 2006 WL 3692646 (Tex.Crim.App. 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.. He and other gang members also stood on the girls' necks to ensure they died. The Court opined that victim impact evidence is designed to show the victim's uniqueness as a human being and the state has legitimate interest in counteracting the mitigating evidence which the defendant is entitled to put in, by reminding the sentencer that just as the murderer should be considered as an individual, so too the victim is an individual whose death represents a unique loss to society and in particular to his family. Payne, 501 U.S. at 825, 111 S.Ct. The failure to assign a burden of proof on the mitigation issue (or to place the burden on the defendant) does not render the scheme unconstitutional. Later Cantu and his accomplices were said to have joked about the brutal killings. "He's a guy who fully accepts his responsibility.". 4/21/10 -- The 178th District Court set Cantus execution date for August 17, 2010. ", Their battered and decomposing bodies, left to mummify in a wooded field in the relentless heat of Houston's summer, were found four days after they disappeared. The murders of Elizabeth Pena and Jennifer Ertman affected Houston deeply. 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. 927 (1908). Point four likewise claims reversible error in denying him the right to question prospective jurors about their ability to consider the 35-year minimum calendar years he would have to serve on a life sentence before becoming parole eligible. Points of error one through four are overruled.FN3. Refine Your Search Results. Counsel for Defendant D&W Painting, Inc. Richard H. Grafton T. Mark Rogstad Paul Byron Starr WRIGHT & GREENHILL, P.C. The gang members ran and grabbed Elizabeth and pulled her down the incline, off of the tracks. 71,557, slip op. Eight minutes later, he was dead. Cantu was the final of three men condemned to die for the murders. 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. Why kill when we know that sometimes we don't get it right?" Pete Cantu in Texas We found 49 records for Pete Cantu in Edinburg, Austin and 36 other cities in Texas. Fitness Professional Online at Xecute Fit. at 2606-07. Point of error thirty-five is overruled. Hence, a plurality of the court concluded that testimony by the sister of the victim concerning the victim's good nature, hobbies, and work ethic was not relevant to sentencing and, therefore, should not have been admitted. Mexican-born Jose Medellin, 33, with needles in his arms, also apologized. 1910, 150 L.Ed.2d 9 (2001) (using the clearly drafted catchall instruction of Texas Code of Criminal Procedure article 37.071 2(e)(1) as a frame of reference to compare its brevity and clarity against the confusing nature of the supplemental instruction given in that case). Sign Up. Zimmerman v. State, 860 S.W.2d 89 (Tex.Crim.App.1993).FN9 Points of error fifteen, sixteen and seventeen are overruled. There is no evidence that must be viewed by a juror as being per se mitigating. HUNTSVILLE, Texas Texas has executed a former gang member who took part in the rape and murder of two teenage girls who were walking home from a neighborhood party 17 years ago. After they finished laughing and stuff, and I said-I don't remember who said it but one of them asked, I think it was my husband, I'm not sure, said, well, what happened to them, and they said, we had to kill them. 55 (5th Cir. Plus, appellant objected at the punishment stage to the testimony of Pena's mother, M. Pena, who testified as to her daughter's good character, the search for her daughter, and the impact the disappearance had on the rest of the family members. We will affirm. The subsequent boastful statements of the remaining gang members revealed that what then ensued was a brutal gang rape of both of the girls. denied, 510 U.S. 829, 114 S.Ct. Patricia's estranged husband suffered through a long period of being considered a suspect in his wife's murder. Points of error thirty-seven and thirty-eight are overruled. Maria Cantu Hexsel 221 West 6" Street, Suite 1800 Jennifer Buntz GERMER GERTZ . In determining whether jury argument is extreme or manifestly improper, we look at the entire record of final arguments to determine if there was a willful and calculated effort on the part of the State to deprive appellant of a fair and impartial trial. See Beazley v. Johnson, 242 F.3d 248, 260 (5th Cir.2001) (The definition of mitigating evidence does not limit the evidence considered under the third special issue (whether mitigating circumstances warrant a life, rather than a death, sentence).); see also Roach v. Quarterman, 220 Fed.Appx. At least they probably have a daughter they can go home to," Stacey said. (Habeas). Select the best result to find their address, phone number, relatives, and public records. Appellant then parceled out jewelry and money he had taken from the girls. Appellant was subsequently convicted of capital murder in February of *631 1994.FN1 Tex. Several of Ertman's ribs were broken from being kicked. Thus, no egregious harm, if any harm at all, can be established. The inferences drawn by the prosecutor from the evidence were not so extreme or improper as to rise to the level of reversible error. pete cantu texas metal. It noted that graphic crime scene photographs do not offend due process principles when they serve[ ] to illustrate and make more understandable the officers' testimony which described the [scene] and its condition, and the location and condition of the deceased's body and the nature and extent of the injuries to the deceased. Cantu, 2009 WL 275172, at *23 (alterations in original) (quoting Woods v. Johnson, 75 F.3d 1017, 1039 (5th Cir.1996)). In related point twenty-three, he further alleges that the trial court's charge on unadjudicated offenses requires reversal because there is no way for this Court to meaningfully review the sufficiency of the evidence. A tip led authorities to the bodies. Here, the district court explained, the prosecution introduced the photographs while doing just that-describing the condition of the corpses, explaining the process of identifying the bodies, and verifying the statements made by Cantu and others. Henry Cantu Director: University of Texas at San Antonio College/University: 1 Utsa Cir, San Antonio, TX 78249 If enough of any type of evidence exists in the record so that any rational trier of fact could have believed an issue to be true, then we need not know what a specific trier of fact believed. At the guilt/innocence phase of the instant case, the jury was specifically charged that they could not find appellant guilty of capital murder unless he intentionally murdered the victim or intentionally assisted in the commission of the murder and the aggravating offense. Sometimes people don't make the best decisions, but the following incidents show some truly questionable behavior. Mr. Pedro Cantu, Jr., 87, entered into the presence of his Heavenly Father on Saturday, June 9, 2018. 74(f). The murder of the two girls, both students at Waltrip High School, became one of the most notorious crimes in modern Houston history. Additionally, the Texas death penalty scheme was found constitutional by the Supreme Court in Jurek v. Texas, 428 U.S. 262, 270-72, 96 S.Ct. Raul Villareal, 17, was being initiated into the Black and White gang, led by Cantu, then 18. In appellant's arraignment in open court, but outside the presence of the jury, the State read the indictment and appellant's counsel entered appellant's plea of not guilty. While the plain language of Article 36.01 indicates that an identical procedure should be followed in the jury's presence, it is not required by that language. [THE STATE:] And what would he say about that? 2909, 49 L.Ed.2d 859 (1976), that as long as the class of murderers subject to capital punishment is narrowed, there is no constitutional infirmity in a procedure that allows a jury to recommend mercy based on the mitigating evidence introduced by a defendant. However, as they passed Joe Medellin, he grabbed Elizabeth and dragged her down a hill as she screamed for help. 3202, 105 L.Ed.2d 709 (1989); Tucker v. State, 771 S.W.2d 523, 530 (Tex.Crim.App.1988), cert. denied, 513 U.S. 1021, 115 S.Ct. Indeed, we have rejected this argument recently. 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 When the police followed this suggestion, they found the badly decaying bodies of Jenny and Elizabeth. Barnes, supra. Media Advisory: Peter Cantu scheduled for execution. ", The case horrified Houston. People named Pete Cantu. Points of error twenty-five through twenty-seven are overruled. In response to her friend's cries, Jennifer ran back to help, but appellant grabbed her and dragged her down the hill as well. You are instructed that, in considering the mitigating factors in answering the special issues, you are to consider the Defendant's youth as a mitigating factor.. 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. Later that night, appellant, Joe, Efrian, and Raul regrouped at appellant's house to brag about their exploits. Petitioner Peter Anthony Cantu, a Texas inmate, was convicted of capital murder and sentenced to death. at 2608. Ertman will stand a few feet away, watching again through the window. Some of the girls' jewelry was recovered from his bedroom. Santikos, supra; Dinkins v. State, 894 S.W.2d 330, 340 (Tex.Crim.App.1995), cert. See Free v. Peters, 806 F.Supp. Therefore, if he asserts that any evidence presented during the guilt/innocence phase constitutes inadmissible victim impact evidence, he has not preserved that complaint for appellate review. However, that Court also said that the State need not purchase for an indigent defendant all the assistance that his wealthier counterparts might buy. Id. Cantu then filed a habeas petition in the United Stated District Court for the Southern District of Texas. Valerie Nicole. (806) 763-5556. We object to the out of court statements of these co-defendants that we can't confront and cross examine. Maybe some satisfaction, but never closure.". See Photos. We further held in Rey v. State, 897 S.W.2d 333, 337 (Tex.Crim.App.1995), that Ake applies to non-psychiatric experts like pathologists. Michelle Licon Cantu currently resides in Lubbock, Texas. Subsequent decisions by this court have consistently held that a state trial court may not, under Beck, refuse a lesser-included-offense instruction if the jury could rationally acquit on the capital crime and convict for the noncapital crime. East v. Scott, 55 F.3d 996, 1005 (5th Cir.1995) (internal citation omitted) (quoting Cordova v. Lynaugh, 838 F.2d 764, 767 (5th Cir.1988)); see also Aguilar v. Dretke, 428 F.3d 526, 531 (5th Cir.2005). Jose Medellin was executed in August 2008. 2597, 115 L.Ed.2d 720 (1991). Lived In Las . Hence, appellant's point of error thirty is overruled. Second, given the extent of the other evidence supporting Cantu's conviction, reasonable jurists would not disagree with the district court's determination that Cantu has not shown that he was prejudiced by his counsel's failure to raise a due process objection. Joe Cantu, brother of ringleader Peter Cantu, whose call to police had led to the arrests in the Ertman/Pena murders, had again contacted authorities and told them that he recalled O'Brien bragging about another murder that occurred before the girls were killed.