Ruben Cantu - An innocent man executed in Texas.

[Catherine Vincent]

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/editorial/3479155.html

Death penalty doubts

The case of Ruben Cantu may provide the smoking gun capital punishment opponents have sought in Texas: the execution of an innocent man. Up until his death by lethal injection in the summer of 1993, San Antonian Ruben Cantu steadfastly claimed that he had been framed at the age of 17 for shooting two men during a robbery. One of them died, and the other lived to bear witness against him. An investigation of Cantu's conviction by the Chronicle's Lise Olsen provides persuasive evidence that his execution by the state was a mistake.

Opponents of capital punishment point to the fact that the Texas criminal justice system is far from fool-proof. Inevitably, they argue, death sentences will cause innocent people to suffer the ultimate, irreversible miscarriage of justice. The poor are at greatest risk of falling victim to a wrongful death sentence, as they must rely on an appointed lawyer who might not give the case his full attention. Every step of the way, from arrest to conviction to eventual execution, Cantu's history matches that scenario.

The 15-year-old who admitted participating in the crime, David Garza, has signed an affidavit claiming Cantu was not the gunman and was not at the scene of the shooting. Garza, incarcerated for an unrelated burglary, says both he and Cantu took a vow of secrecy not to identify the killer. He says he's speaking out now because he continues to be tormented by his failure to prevent the execution of his friend. The surviving witness, Juan Moreno, testified at the trial that Cantu was the killer. Moreno claims police pressured him to ID Cantu after showing him Cantu's picture numerous times. He now says he is sure Cantu was not the man who shot him.

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And I am sure he wasn't the first nor will he be the last. :-(

[Maraya1969]

1. I don't know why Texas doesn't put a moratorium on executions.

What happens in that state is disgraceful.

[mermaid]

7. As An Ex-Texan, I Will Tell You Why

because Texans LIKE the death penalty. Any politician running for state office who even suggests such a thing is basically committing political suicide, unless they happen to be running from some of the very few, very small "blue" districts of Texas.

There are a few disctricts where one could get away with such a suggestion in Texas...these are the districts that were "cracked and packed" like my own former 25th District, the seat currently held by Lloyd Doggett...anyone from that area could suggest such a thing and get away with it. But he would be overwhelmed and outvoted by all the state legislators who dare not suggest any such thing...and no Governor will ever consider a moratorium, because such a Governor candidate would never get elected in 80 percent red Texas.

So, the situation, basically, is that there are a few state Reps and Senators who could suggest such a thing and survive it politically...but they are so outnumbered by those who could not support it, that it would never get thru the legislature...and, even if by some miracle it did...there is no man who would sign it into law and remain Governor for very long.

Texas is very overwhelmingly into frontier-type justice, hang 'em high, Judge Roy Bean...it just won't happen in Texas.

As my old Congressman, Lloyd Doggett was wont to say to me on several occasions...I agree with you, personally, but that dog ain't gonna hunt here.

And that's quite frankly it. No Texas politician, having to answer to the voters of Texas, is gonna speak out against the death penalty. It would take a MAJOR miscarriage of justice being exposed for that to even get any press. Like, for example, if the folks wrongly convicted in Tulia...if that had been capital punishment...and a number of them ended up getting executed, before the truth came out...that would have been the type of MAJOR miscarriage of justice that might have opened the subject for discussion.

One innocent man gettin' fried isn't gonna move most Texans. It would take something much, much bigger. Like I said...Tulia. If them guys had been convicted of capital crimes, and had the death sentance applied to them already, and then it came out that they had been framed by a racist cop...and like 20 or so of them got fried...THEN you might get some press, and some discussion.

But one innocent man gettin' fried does nothing to diminish the average Texan's support of the death penalty.

This, as an ex-Texan who DOES oppose the death penalty.

[Catherine Vincent]

13. You're right. That's the real reason.

Too many Texas voters are pro-death penalty.

[BlueJazz]

2. This causes me to be so Sad.....and Angry at the idiots that live...

..in Texas.

[Catherine Vincent]

3. Why are you calling me an idiot?

I can't help it that our state government kill innocents? I wish they would do away with the death penalty.

[BlueJazz]

4. I said "The Idiots" that live in Texas....Not .......

"The People who live in Texas are Idiots"

Idiots= People who vote for Repugs. :)

[Catherine Vincent]

6. Okay, thanks for the clarification. :-)

I'm not a native but most of my family is here. And yes, the repigs here are idiots, well not all of them. Only the ones that voted for Bush and his cronies.

[Telly Savalas]

5. Florida has the motherfucking death penalty too, ya know.

But I guess juries there never fuck up, eh?

[BlueJazz]

8. I have NO faith in Juries..... almost as much as I have no faith in ...

..most people. A good friend of mine is in jail now for sometrhing he didn't do and there's nothing I can do to help him.

[sam sarrha]

9. i lived in texas and he murdered a lot of Innocent people of the 152

poor blacks whose lawyers were sent home drunk twice and chastised for disturbing the court by snoring loudly.. one never called a withes of the 8 availer and Bu$h executed him

[mermaid]

10. And Let Us Not Forget Bu$h Mocking Karla Faye Tucker

just before her execution in Texas...the same execution that then-Pope John Paul II had all but begged Bu$h to not carry out...and asked Bu$h to commute Karla's sentence to life in prison.

Let's not forget what kind of "man" Bu$h was...and is!!

He kills because he enjoys killing. The man is a complete psycho.

[Pushed To The Left]

11. I am opposed to the death penalty now

because of this type of thing. I was a rabid death penalty supporter for years, but there have been too many stories like this one, too many innocent people on death row, and too many wrongful convictions. Until it can be 100% guaranteed that there won't be any more wrongful convictions, I can not support capital punishment.

Speaking of wrongful convictions, I posted this website earlier, but I felt I should post it again.

www.freeclarence.com

This man is serving a life sentence for crimes that DNA PROVES he did not do! His entire family is fighting to get him out of prison. Just imagine if he had been executed.

[f-bush]

12. Outlaw the death penalty!

We are the only supposedly "enlightened" nation with the death penalty. It has been proven not to be a deterrent. It just shows how babaric of a society that we have become once again. It sickens me that this repuke in office is so smug about his death penalty record.

This is typical reugnican thinking. Dispose of those who may impede their progress or who are different than them. How about some programs and support before the fact so that most of those who comitt these crimes would have the education and resources to be productive. How about being affirming instead or condemning!