The state of Texas has executed a man for the brutal murder of two people in 2000.
Ivan Cantu was convicted and sentenced to death for the 2000 murders of his cousin and his cousin's fiancée, although he maintained his innocence until his death.
Cantu, 50, died via lethal injection at 6:47 p.m., according to a news release from the Texas Department of Criminal Justice.
Cantu insisted in his final words that he was not responsible for the murders of his cousin, James Mosqueda, and nursing student Amy Kitchen.
“I’d like to address the Kitchens and Mosqueda families. I want you to know that I never killed James and Amy,” Cantu said. “And if I did, if I knew who did, you would’ve been the first to know any information I would’ve had that would’ve helped to bring justice to James and Amy.”
Collin County District Attorney Greg Willis stated that Cantu had "finally met with justice" after being incarcerated for over 20 years.
“My hopeful prayer is for the victims’ families, friends, and loved ones to find a long-awaited sense of peace,” Willis said in a statement.
A TDCJ official later stated that the lethal injection, which took roughly 21 minutes, went smoothly.
In addition to three journalists, Kitchen's brother, sister-in-law, and a family friend watched the execution. Cantu had requested no personal witnesses, according to the spokeswoman, despite being accompanied by his spiritual counselor, anti-death sentence crusader Sister Helen Prejean of "Dead Man Walking" renown.
Cantu and his supporters, including three of his trial jurors, had urged for his execution to be postponed to provide time for fresh information to be analyzed and for the convict to argue that he was denied a fair trial and was, in his opinion, framed by those genuinely guilty for the homicide.
However, the alternatives for stopping the execution quickly narrowed in the hours before it was carried out Wednesday evening. A federal appeals court declined to intercede the night before, following a decision earlier this week by the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals, which also rejected Cantu's plea and request to halt his execution.
Cantu's attorney, Gena Bunn, declined to take the case to the United States Supreme Court, stating that Tuesday night's Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals order meant the inmate's team "could not find a viable path forward."
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