Derrick Sean O'Brien was executed in July 2006. This is not to say, of course, that the indigent defendant has a constitutional right to choose a psychiatrist of his personal liking or to receive funds to hire his own. Peter Anthony Cantu (AP Photo/Texas Dept.
County of Offense: Harris
2193, 109 L.Ed.2d 520 (1990). Log in or sign up for Facebook to connect with friends, family and people you know. [W]hether the defendant actually caused the death of the deceased or did not actually cause the death of the deceased but intended to kill the deceased or another or anticipated that a human life would be taken. Specifically, he alleges that denying jurors the knowledge that appellant would have to serve at least 35 years in prison before becoming eligible for parole if sentenced to life in prison results in the arbitrary imposition of the death penalty in violation of the Eighth and Fourteenth Amendments to the United States Constitution and Article I, 10, 13, and 19 of the Texas Constitution. Visit Website. [WITNESS:] I did that. Notwithstanding this, we hold that evidence concerning the sexual assault, robbery, and murder of Pena is admissible at guilt/innocence as same transaction contextual evidence to impart to the trier of fact information essential to understanding the context and circumstances of the offense. Instead, the Code of Criminal Procedure simply requires that the State prove each element of a crime beyond a reasonable doubt, whether the jury believes all of the State's evidence or only part of it. Just 18 years old at the time, he led a gang of five other teens to repeatedly rape and murder Ertman and Pena. The second special issue submitted to the jury and of which appellant now complains reads in pertinent part as follows:
Rousseau v. State, 855 S.W.2d 666 (Tex.Crim.App. Fans of Texas Metal have seen the work of Heath Moore. 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. We have already decided these issues adversely to appellant. Jennifer Ertman and Elizabeth Pena were 14 and 16 years old, respectively.
Jenny was strangled with the belt of Sean O'Brien, with two murderers pulling, one on each side, until the belt broke. Viva Cristo Rey! On June 24, 1993, Cantu and other members of the Black and White gang met to initiate a new member. The break in solving the case came from, of course, the 911 call. At this point, Roman and Frank Sandoval decided to leave. 106, 133 L.Ed.2d 59 (1995); McBride v. State, 862 S.W.2d 600, 610-11 (Tex.Crim.App.1993), cert. FN13. Agapito Cantu Obituary (2012) - Lubbock, TX - Lubbock Avalanche-Journal Second, he argues that his trial counsel rendered ineffective assistance for failing to object to the prosecution's sentencing-phase argument urging the jurors to look at the admitted photographs. 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. Cantu's final two arguments are both framed as claims of ineffective assistance of counsel. Capital One Plaza 5718 Westheimer, Suite 1750 701 Brazos, Suite 1500 Houston, Texas 77057 Austin, Texas 78701 Counsel for Defendant [D/Guerra, L.P. Choose one of our three Metal Depot locations in Southeast Texas for all of . (Habeas). 1338, 127 L.Ed.2d 686 (1994); Butler v. State, 872 S.W.2d 227, 240 (Tex.Crim.App.1994), cert.
The subsequent boastful statements of the remaining gang members revealed that what then ensued was a brutal gang rape of both of the girls. 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. Eyewitness News photographer Jaime Zamora gives first hand account of For the following reasons, we decline to issue a COA on any of those issues. PEDRO CANTU - Pleasanton Express 6. whether the defendant was acting under duress or the domination of another at the time of the offense;
denied, 516 U.S. 843, 116 S.Ct. HUNTSVILLE, Texas (CBS/KHOU) Murderer Peter Anthony Cantu was executed by the state of Texas Tuesday evening. Cantu strangled Pena with shoelaces. 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. At trial, appellant's sister-in-law, Christina Cantu, and appellant's brother, Joe Cantu, both took the stand and testified that appellant and his co-defendants arrived at the Cantu house the night of the murders and freely talked, and even bragged, about the events of the evening. The district court, as did the state court, placed Cantu's first statement into the context of all the record evidence and determined that a rational jury would not have concluded that Cantu was guilty only of the lesser-included offenses. Article continues below advertisement. 6:00pm I was escorted along with four other media witnesses. 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. All Death, Burial, Cemetery & Obituaries results for Pedro Cant Guzmn Some of the other boys, including Derrick O'Brien, Jose Medellin, and Venancio Medellin, also gave confessions. Don't kill that child. 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. It's not a question of you killing this child. And finally, the prosecution closed by reiterating:
[THE STATE:] So, at some point did they move on from talking about what they did to them sexually and tell you that they killed them? The inferences drawn by the prosecutor from the evidence were not so extreme or improper as to rise to the level of reversible error. Id. As we set out previously, the Supreme Court recently held that, once the jury finds that the defendant falls within the legislatively defined category of persons eligible for the death penalty, the sentencer may be given unbridled discretion in determining whether the death penalty should be imposed. Appellant, Peter Anthony Cantu, was charged by indictment with the offense of capital murder for killing Jennifer Ertman in the course of committing or attempting to commit robbery, kidnapping and aggravated sexual assault. Randy commandeered the news van and went to the scene that was now bustling with police activity. Appellant's counsel responded, Not guilty, Your Honor. After the jury was brought in the next day, the State read the indictment in their presence. During its jury argument at punishment, the State did not even mention her testimony, much less emphasize it. Because of our resolution of points of error eighteen and nineteen, supra, we hold that this was not error. The girls encountered Roman and Frank Sandoval as they made their way home, but managed to pass them without incident. 596, 111 S.W. Seventeen years after taking part in one of the most heinous crimes in Houston history, Peter Cantu was executed tonight in Huntsville. She bought the beer and went with the group, unwittingly heading to her death. Later that night, Joe, Efrian, and Raul regrouped at Cantus house to brag about their exploits. We conclude that reasonable jurists would not disagree on this matter. Pete Cantu in Texas We found 49 records for Pete Cantu in Edinburg, Austin and 36 other cities in Texas. At the time of Cantu's trial, 2(e)(1) stated: The court shall instruct the jury that if the jury returns an affirmative finding to each issue submitted under Subsection (b), it shall answer the following issue: Whether, taking 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, there is a sufficient mitigating circumstance or circumstances to warrant that a sentence of life imprisonment rather than a death sentence be imposed. Extraneous victim impact evidence, if anything, is more prejudicial than the non-extraneous victim impact evidence found by this Court to be inadmissible in Smith, supra. SAN ANTONIO A man suspected of stealing an unmarked Bexar County Sheriffs Office cruiser during a chase Tuesday was arrested New Braunfels Wednesday morning. ), cert. 2/23/98 --- Cantu filed an application for state writ of habeas corpus. Venancio Medellin, who was 14 at the time, was convicted of aggravated sexual assault and sentenced to 40 years in prison. Here, the district court determined that the state court did not unreasonably apply federal law in concluding that the prosecution's argument was proper and, therefore, that Cantu's counsel's performance was not deficient in failing to object to the argument. Other cast members of the show are Spot and John. ), cert. "Theres nothing he would have said to me that would have made any difference," said Pena, who was wearing a white T-shirt with a photo of the two girls printed on the front. Pete Cantu - Ballotpedia His offenses escalated to car theft and an attempted stabbing. We have previously addressed and rejected this contention. The instant case is distinguishable from Payne, Ford and Smith as Pena was not the victim named in the indictment. , 45, was charged in the theft of more than $6,400 in sausage from the Kiolbassa Provision Company. In light of this, we look to the record in the present case and review the evidence in the light most favorable to the verdict to determine whether a rational jury could have found sufficient evidence that appellant would probably be a danger in the future. His only supporters were a handful of death penalty abolitionists who showed up to protest capital punishment in general. 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. They decided to take a shortcut across the railroad tracks.
19.03(a)(2). Rule App. 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. Cold, cruel, inhuman, and yet he has his attorney saying don't kill the child. Authorities later linked him and O'Brien to a killing six months before the attack on Ertman and Pena.