200 DEATH ROW EXONERATIONS SINCE 1973

The Death Penalty's Hall of Shame

Earlier this year the 200^th confirmed death row exoneration took place in the United States since 1973. Ivan Cantu tried desperately to make that list but unfortunately failed in the effort.

That’s because the State of Texas executed the 52-year-old Cantu on February 28, 2024 in the state’s death chamber at Huntsville, Texas. He was convicted and sentenced to death for the murder of his cousin, James Mosqueda, and his cousin’s fiancée, Amy Kitchen. He was pronounced dead at 6:47 p.m., insisting up to his final breath that he was innocent.

Collin County District Attorney Greg Willis vehemently refuted Cantu’s claims of innocence, pointing to the “overwhelming” evidence of guilt presented against him at his October 2001 trial. This evidence included:

· 34 witnesses who presented some form of testimony implicating guilt.

· Jeff Boettcher, the brother of Cantu’s girlfriend, Amy Boettcher, testified that Cantu told him he planned to kill Mosqueda, a drug dealer, for his money and drugs.

· Amy Boettcher testified that Cantu told her on the night of the double murder he was “going to kill” Mosqueda and that he when he returned to their apartment, his face was swollen and he was covered with blood. She testified she put his bloody clothing in a garbage can.

· Two days after the murders, the Dallas Police Department found Mosqueda’s vehicle parked near the front door of Cantu’s apartment.

· In an ensuing search of Cantu’s apartment, Dallas police found keys belonging to Mosqueda and Amy Kitchen; bloody blue jeans with Mosqueda’s DNA on them; and bloody socks with Kitchen’s DNA on them.

· Cantu’s former girlfriend, Tawny Svihovec, directed Dallas police to a .380 caliber, semi-automatic pistol with Cantu’s fingerprints on the weapon’s magazine and which ballistic testing showed it was the murder weapon used to kill Mosqueda and Kitchen.

DA Willis said after Cantu’s execution that this “overwhelming evidence” proved the State of Texas had executed a “guilty man.”

However, the issue of Cantu’s guilt is not as cut and dry as Willis would have the public believe. For example, in recent years, private investigator Matt Duff, with the Cousins by Blood podcast, developed credible evidence that both Jeff and Amy Boettcher lied under oath at Cantu’s trial. Evidence of this perjured testimony was compelling enough that Collin County District Judge Benjamin Smith halted Cantu’s scheduled execution in April 2023 so this new evidence could be developed. The conservative Republican judge wanted a further review of the new evidence after two of Cantu’s jurors said they no longer supported his execution given the new evidence that Matt Duff had brought to light.

The new evidence supported Cantu’s assertion that he had been “framed” by a rival drug dealer who was the actual killer of Mosqueda and Kitchen. The police recorded a phone call, without Cantu’s knowledge, shortly after the double murder between Cantu and one of Mosqueda’s drug associates during which Cantu said a man dressed as a pizza delivery driver came to his apartment looking for Mosqueda, saying the drug dealer owed him money.

Cantu told Mosqueda’s drug associate that the informed Mosqueda about the pizza delivery man and that the two had switched cars to make the pizza delivery man think Mosqueda was not at home. That would explain Mosqueda’s vehicle being a Cantu’s apartment after the murders.

Cantu’s legal team would later uncover evidence from Amy Boettcher’s stepfather that she fingered Cantu because she was afraid the killers would kill her if she didn’t. Both Jeff and Amy Boettcher were addicted drug users connected to the drug world of James Mosqueda.

Jeff Boettcher testified that he saw Cantu toss Mosqueda’s Rolex watch out of a car vehicle window shortly after the murders but the watch was later found by one of Kitchen’s relatives in the apartment Mosqueda shared with Kitchen.

There were numerous other inconsistent details in the testimony given by the Boettchers at Cantu’s trial.

But this new evidence was never given an opportunity to be developed.

As the Texas Tribune reported on February 6, 2024, the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals reversed Judge Smith’s halting of the execution. The appeals court, without a detailed explanation, said Cantu’s request for a newly discovered evidence hearing did not meet the requirements for such a hearing. That callous ruling set the stage for Cantu’s eventual execution.

As death penalty opponent Sister Helen Prejean said five days before Cantu’s execution: “Even if you’re for the death penalty, you believe in fairness. There was no fairness at this trial. All we’re asking is to delay the execution of Ivan Cantu long enough to be able to have a hearing and inquiry into the new evidence that’s been presented.”

There is no real way to determine now if Ivan Cantu was actually innocent. The State of Texas has a sordid history of executing innocent people. Ivan Cantu should be added to that list.

The issue of innocence aside, the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals did a disservice to justice by not letting the newly discovered evidence be heard because at the very least that evidence showed Cantu did not receive a fair trial.

Ivan Cantu had been on death row for more than two decades. What possible harm could one more year have done to the criminal justice system while the newly discovered evidence was developed in a court of law?

None.

The State of Texas has once again shown with the execution of Ivan Cantu that revenge, not fairness, is the primary goal of its criminal justice system.