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2193, 109 L.Ed.2d 520 (1990). Valerie Nicole. Court appeals to delay the punishment appeared exhausted. "Billy Eichner Romantic Comedy 'Bros' Moves To Fall After 'Mission: Impossible 7' Re-Assignment To 2023". At age 11, he got caught stealing a bike from a younger boy. She'd been raped and eviscerated. He let out a final breath at 6:17 p.m. and peacefully died. Missing from the list this year are such veteran Forbes 400 members as Red McCombs ($1.25 billion) and T. Boone Pickens ($950 million). As she was leaving, she was stopped by Joe Medellin, Peter Cantu and Sean O'Brien, who asked her to buy them some beer since they were underage. The phone transferred the photos to her online account, and she shared them on Facebook. Evidence showed Cantu kicked one of the girls in the face with his steel-toed boot. The Supreme Court held in Beck that a state cannot impose a blanket ban on lesser-included-offense instructions in capital cases. Over the years, Rios regularly asks what else she might have done to prevent their deaths. 3. the forethought and deliberateness exhibited by the crime's execution; We decline to revisit this issue here. 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)). He told the call taker that the missing girls' bodies could be found near T.C. See Photos. He was born on June 9, 1980, in Stephenville, Texas to Jesus Cantu, Jr. and Maria Acuna. 3230, 106 L.Ed.2d 578 (1989). Roland Gonzales is suspected of stealing more than $100 worth of steak from H-E-B. I love you too Pete, may you find peace wherever you are, finally you are free. 2382, 65 L.Ed.2d 392 (1980). This means that the new member was required to fight every member of the gang until he passed out and then he would be accepted as a member. In points of error twenty-one and twenty-two, appellant challenges the sufficiency of the evidence to support the jury's answers to the issues on future dangerousness and mitigation. Appellant objected that this was improper impeachment on a collateral matter. Point of error thirteen is overruled. He was booked into the Guadalupe County Jail for theft of a vehicle and evading arrest, along with a separate charge of possession of a controlled substance. 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. 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. 1. Tuesday, August 10, 2010 Prior Prison Record: Cantu is also serving a 10 year sentence in connection with an aggravated asault on a Houston man in January 1993. Point of error forty-four is overruled. 1/29/97 -- The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals affirmed Cantus verdict and sentence. "Randy and Sandy have been through enough theres nothing left for them to say," Stacey said. denied, 513 U.S. 967, 115 S.Ct. And then ask yourself another question. Lived In Las . [THE STATE:] And when he said, yeah, I did that, what was he talking about, Christina? Enter Peter Cantu is not an animal. Appellant cites no authority for why he should have been entitled to such an instruction. See Free v. Peters, 19 F.3d 389 (7th Cir. 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. They were last seen by friends about 11:15 at night, when they left a friend's apartment to head home, to beat summer curfew at 11:30. 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. Point of error thirty-one is overruled. 596, 111 S.W. said Gloria Rubac, a death penalty abolitionist. 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. Jester Park. We also note that to preserve error for appellate review, assuming there was error, the party alleging error must have informed the trial court as to his complaint by making a timely objection so that the trial court was given an opportunity to rule on the complaint. "We can say its the end, but its never going to be closure," Adolfo Pena, Elizabeths father, said afterward. 463rd murderer executed in Texas since 1976. The state court concluded that Cantu's counsel's performance was not deficient because the prosecution's statements were proper under Texas law and did not inject new or harmful facts into the trial in light of the record as a whole. Proc. He was on the first three seasons of the show, but in the latest one, he's nowhere to be seen. 9/19/07 -- Cantu filed his federal habeas corpus petition in a Houston U.S. district court. Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. 1224th murderer executed in U.S. since 1976 He objected that this evidence was not relevant to the special issues and was more prejudicial than probative. 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. (Direct Appeal). Appellant's argument centers around the concept that aggravating circumstances must be adequately defined for the jury. However, nowhere does appellant tell us specifically which terms he alleges are inadequately defined in the special issues. We hold that the same analysis applies to the new statute and appellant has given us no reason to revisit this issue. The boys then ran after the girls and grabbed them. 22 posts. Tuilaepa v. California, 512 U.S. 967, 979-80, 114 S.Ct. 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. Spare his life, please, ladies and gentlemen of the jury. A jury found Peter Cantu guilty of capital murder in February 1994 and sentenced him to death. However, the erroneous admission of M. Pena's testimony as to her daughter's character and activities was harmless beyond a reasonable doubt. He lasted through three fights before briefly losing consciousness. 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. They decided to take a shortcut across the railroad tracks. Authorities were able to track Cantu down to the 100 block of Charles Avenue shortly after midnight. 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). A Harris County jury sentenced Cantu to death for the June 1993 kidnapping, rape, robbery and murder of 14-year-old Jennifer Ertman. February 19, 2014. denied, 508 U.S. 963, 113 S.Ct. Ertman will stand a few feet away, watching again through the window. It was a death the victims' families said was too good for the man who brought a violent and terrifying end to the lives of two teens 17 years ago. Think about the ordeal of those two young girls right here. In contrast, in Smith v. State, 919 S.W.2d 96 (Tex.Crim.App.1996) (plurality op. 3230, 106 L.Ed.2d 578 (1989). 81(b)(2); Harris v. State, 790 S.W.2d 568, 587-588 (Tex.Crim.App.1989); Smith v. State, 919 S.W.2d 96, 102-03 (Tex.Crim.App.1996). Elgin, Texas. The inferences drawn by the prosecutor from the evidence were not so extreme or improper as to rise to the level of reversible error. denied, 516 U.S. 832, 116 S.Ct. All Rights Reserved. The class is further limited in that the death penalty cannot be imposed on an individual convicted of capital murder unless the jury answers the special issues in the manner described in Article 37.071, Section 1, Code of Criminal Procedure. Proc. Raul was an acquaintance of Efrain and was not known to the other gang members. They were kicked, teeth knocked out and hair pulled out and ribs broken. FN12. Profile. Christina subsequently convinced her husband to report the incident to the police. In reviewing the prosecution's argument, [t]he relevant question is whether the prosecutors' comments so infected the trial with unfairness as to make the resulting conviction a denial of due process. Id. Martinez was fifteen years old and testified that she had known appellant for approximately three years and went out with him and mutual friends almost every weekend. He gave no final statement and showed no remorse for his acts. Appellant does not here argue that the extraneous offenses should not have been admitted. (plurality op. A petitioner satisfies this standard by demonstrating that jurists of reason could disagree with the district court's resolution of his constitutional claims or that jurists could conclude the issues presented are adequate to deserve encouragement to proceed further. Miller-El v. Cockrell, 537 U.S. 322, 327, 123 S.Ct. Cantu's final two arguments are both framed as claims of ineffective assistance of counsel. Re-roof permit no change in pitch deck or tile roof to comply w/udc and irc codes. I, Sec. The gang members ran and grabbed Elizabeth and pulled her down the incline, off of the tracks. Rousseau, 855 S.W.2d at 686-87; Felder, 848 S.W.2d at 101; Davis v. State, 782 S.W.2d 211, 221-22 (Tex.Crim.App.1989), cert. Rather, there must be some evidence directly germane to a lesser included offense for the factfinder to consider before an instruction on a lesser-included offense is warranted. The State did not directly or indirectly accuse counsel of suborning perjury or manufacturing evidence, as appellant claims in his brief. These factors are also helpful in this Court's evaluation of this question. See Webb v. State, 760 S.W.2d 263, 268 (Tex.Crim.App.1988), cert. Specifically, Cantu challenges the trial court's preventing him from informing the jury that, based on Texas law at the time, he would be eligible for parole in thirty-five years were he sentenced to life in prison as opposed to death. 381, 121 L.Ed.2d 292 (1992); Teague v. State, 864 S.W.2d 505, 519 (Tex.Crim.App.1993); Adanandus v. State, 866 S.W.2d 210, 234 (Tex.Crim.App.1993), cert. Point of error forty-two is overruled. HUNTSVILLE, Texas (AP) Randy Ertman knows the road to the Texas death chamber too well. Appellant's claimed error could have been corrected easily if he had timely called it to the court's attention by making a contemporaneous objection. Point of error twenty-two is overruled. No crime warrants a sentence of death. His proposal is based upon a similar study undertaken in Illinois in which an expert found that jurors did not understand the Illinois punishment statutes. @pete.cantu.777. Cantu declined requests for interviews prior to his execution. 1317, 131 L.Ed.2d 198 (1995). The death penalty in general is immoral, uncivilized, cruel, inhumane, barbaric, unjust and vengeful. Select the best result to find their address, phone number, relatives, and public records. In Rousseau, 855 S.W.2d at 673, we established a two-prong test to determine whether a defendant is entitled to a charge on a lesser included offense. Required fields are marked *. According to the police, after beating a woman and attempting to steal her car on the city's West Side on Feb. 18, 2015, three suspects could not figure out the vehicle's push-button ignition. Second, Cantu asserts that the Eighth Amendment's proscription of cruel and unusual punishment was violated by the trial court's refusal during the guilt-innocence phase to instruct the jury on three lesser-included offenses: sexual assault, robbery, and kidnapping.FN2 Cantu bases his claim on the Supreme Court's decision in Beck v. Alabama, 447 U.S. 625, 100 S.Ct. We note the Supreme Court in Payne held the Eighth Amendment did not bar introduction of evidence about the victim and the impact of the victim's death on his or her family as such evidence may be relevant as to the jury's determination as to imposition of the death penalty. 2. We hold that the same analysis applies to the new statute and appellant has given us no reason to revisit this issue. Executed August 17, 2010 06:17 p.m. CDT by Lethal Injection in Texas, 36th murderer executed in U.S. in 2010 The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals summarized the facts adduced during Cantus punishment trial as follows: Several witnesses testified Cantu had a history of violent behavior and offenses. Some of the girls' jewelry was recovered from his bedroom. FN7. Hair Color: Black Subsequently, they all took turns stomping on both girls necks to make sure they were dead. KELLER, J., concurs in the result on point of error eight and joins in the remainder of the opinion. Any subsequent references to Articles are to those in the Texas Code of Criminal Procedure unless otherwise identified. 106, 133 L.Ed.2d 59 (1995). LAST NOTE PRODUCTIONS-Pete Cantu part 2 of 4Elgin's 23rd annual Hogeye Festival elgin Texas 10-23-2010. And in point four, appellant contends that the trial court erred by denying appellant the right to question jurors about their ability to consider the 35 calendar year condition on a life sentence. Eight minutes later, he was dead. At this point, the Sandoval brothers decided that it was time to leave. FN9. 2253(c)(2). In August 2008, Ertman again climbed the steps to the red-bricked Huntsville Unit prison. DR#: 999093 Thus, he contends, evidence of intoxication which did not rise to this level was precluded from being afforded mitigating effect in violation of Eddings v. Oklahoma, 455 U.S. 104, 102 S.Ct. During its jury argument at punishment, the State did not even mention her testimony, much less emphasize it. Appellant's thirty-ninth and fortieth points of error are overruled. Description: We find no constitutional infirmity as the mitigation special issue was enacted by the Legislature to address the concerns of the Supreme Court as stated in Penry v. Lynaugh, supra. Each of these requested charges should have been submitted to the jury to correct the otherwise unconstitutional nature of the issue on mitigation as discussed in Point of Error Fourteen. Defendant was convicted upon jury verdict in the District Court, Harris County, William Harmon, J., of capital murder and was sentenced to death. 1422, 122 L.Ed.2d 791 (1993); Tex.R.App. See Penry v. Johnson, 532 U.S. 782, 803, 121 S.Ct. He gave the police the names of all of the perpetrators, except for new initiate Villareal, who he did not know. has been arrested for allegedly ramming his car into a Dollar General on the East Side, attempting to rob a nearby gas station and then returning to the Dollar General to rob the store a second time. Please spare his life. Appellant alleges that the improper inclusion of the instruction rose to constitutional dimension because it informed the jury to consider evidence of intoxication in mitigation of the crime only if that evidence showed that the intoxication was so extreme as to cause appellant to be temporarily insane. By continuing to browse or by clicking "Accept," you agree to our site's privacy policy. The Ertmans and Penas, again with Kahan's assistance, were also instrumental in getting Texas law changed so that victims' relatives are permitted to witness the executions of their loved ones' killers. Robinson v. State, 851 S.W.2d 216, 232 (Tex.Crim.App.1991), cert. I met Peter through an anti death penalty association that dealt with finding pen pals for prisoners. However, this holding was subsequently rejected by the Seventh Circuit. Native County: Harris 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 Sheriff's Office. Look at the evidence. The families also watched the executions of Jose Medellin and Derrick O'Brian in 2008 and 2006. He's set to make the trip again, to witness for the third time the execution of one of the gang members responsible for the rape and murder of his teenage daughter and her schoolmate. Pete Cantu Alyssa Cantu John Alexander, 62 John Alexander, 88. has lived in . We held: Pete Cantu, age 41, passed away on Tuesday, February 15, 2022, in Orange Grove, Texas. Instead of taking her back to her truck, the trio took her to a back parking lot in Melrose Park in Houston, where they took turns raping and sexually assaulting her before stabbing her to death. Jester Park, about two dozen people gathered around a pair of flower-covered memorial benches to remember the murdered teens. Appellant adopts the argument set forth in Point of Error Fourteen as if fully set forth herein. ", Pena, his wife Melissa at his side, said it did not matter to him that Cantu offered no words of contrition, or any words at all. The record reveals that M. Pena was one of over thirty witnesses who testified at punishment, and her testimony before the jury comprised less than twenty pages out of over 700 pages of testimony at punishment. Petitioner Peter Anthony Cantu, a Texas inmate, was convicted of capital murder and sentenced to death. In response to her friends cries, Jennifer ran back to help, but Cantu grabbed her and dragged her down the hill as well. Sometimes people don't make the best decisions, but the following incidents show some truly questionable behavior. You are instructed that certain evidence introduced to you has been offered in mitigation of the Defendant's punishment. Article continues below advertisement. Peter Cantu was the self-appointed leader of a gang in Houston that met on the night of June 24, 1993, to initiate a new member, Raul Villareal. Houston police researched older cases and found a possible match with the unsolved murder of Patricia Lourdes Lopez. * that appellant created problems in school by fighting and cursing; That is when Cantu, now 35, is set to die by lethal injection in Hunstville. Just 18 years old at the time, he led a gang of five other teens to repeatedly rape and murder Ertman and Pena. See also Green, supra. [Emphasis in original.] Each juror may or may not believe certain evidence is mitigating; however, the constitution only requires that where a juror believes there is relevant mitigating evidence, that juror must have a vehicle to give his or her reasoned moral response to such evidence. In related point of error eleven, appellant alleges that the trial court erred in failing to set aside the indictment because the special issues are not properly understood by the jurors. Failure to make the required showing of either deficient performance or sufficient prejudice defeats the ineffectiveness claim. Strickland, 466 U.S. at 700, 104 S.Ct. The absence of an explicit assignment of the burden of proof does not render Article 37.071 2(e) unconstitutional. Failure To Object To Prosecution's Argument. We therefore deny a COA on this issue. Appellant alleges in point thirty-three that the death penalty as presently administered in Texas is cruel and unusual punishment in violation of the Eighth and Fourteenth Amendments to the United States Constitution and Article I, 13 of the Texas Constitution.