All I would tell the girls right now is we still love you and still miss you," he said. 1871, 128 L.Ed.2d 491 (1994). Pursuant to Tex. At this point, the Sandoval brothers decided that it was time to leave. Ertman tried to help. Here's a Rundown of Each Team Competing in STREET OUTLAWS - Discovery See Penry v. Johnson, 532 U.S. 782, 803, 121 S.Ct. 315 Followers, 680 Following, 22 Posts - See Instagram photos and videos from Pedro Cantu (@pedro_cantu_97) pedro_cantu_97. Log in or sign up for Facebook to connect with friends, family and people you know. 52(a); see Davis v. State, 872 S.W.2d 743, 748, n. 11 (Tex.Crim.App.1994). We have previously addressed and rejected constitutional challenges to prior Article 37.071(g) on numerous occasions. We know that Pete Cantu had been residing in El Cerrito, Contra Costa County, California 94530. However, the erroneous admission of M. Pena's testimony as to her daughter's character and activities was harmless beyond a reasonable doubt. ), cert. Finally, Cantu contends that he received ineffective assistance because his trial counsel failed to object when the prosecution urged the jury to consider the graphic photographs in its sentencing-phase argument. He remains in custody as of this writing. 2052. That is when Cantu, now 35, is set to die by lethal injection in Hunstville. Tony was preceded in death by his parents, his wife Janie P. Cantu, brother Octavanio Cantu, sister Senaida Peralta and granddaughter Raquel Villa. Additionally, given the plain language of Article 37.071 Section 2(e), as well as our holdings in the cases cited above, we find no bad faith on the part of the prosecutor, nor do we find evidence of an intent, given the entire record of final arguments, on the part of the State to deny appellant a fair and impartial trial. 946, 952 (5th Cir.2004) (emphasis added); cf. The prosecutor then asked Martinez if she had written the above cited letter to Perez, to which question she replied that she had. Forbes 400: The Richest People In Texas, 2017 C. Texas's Mitigating Evidence Instruction. Cantu declined requests for interviews prior to his execution. Fourteen-year-old Venancio watched as the others raped both girls until Cantu told him that he should get some. The girls were still being raped when Cantu whispered to Venancio, Were going to have to kill them. When everyone was finished, Cantu told them to take the girls into the woods where they proceeded to strangle them. They were spotted by the group, pulled off the tracks and taken into nearby woods where they were sexually assaulted. ", Maria Frausto said she often says a small prayer when she jogs past the memorial. Christina subsequently convinced her husband to report the incident to the police. LAST NOTE PRODUCTIONS-Pete Cantu part 2 of 4 - YouTube Leave your condolences to the family on this memorial page or send flowers to show you care. Appellant did not object to the inclusion of this instruction in the charge. * that appellant threatened another student's father, saying that he wanted to kill him; If the defendant refuses to plead, the plea of not guilty shall be entered for him by the court. Testimony showed that the girls' bodies were kicked and their necks were stomped on after the strangulations in order to "make sure that they were really dead.". Appellant, along with his co-defendants, brutally raped, strangled, and stomped the two girls to death. Velocity Network's Show "Texas Metal" Season 2 Cast and Crew On Friday, the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles refused his clemency petition. Points of error one through four are overruled.FN3. Don't kill that child. Please spare his life. FN6. Booty Patrol' truck spotted in South Texas, San Antonio woman shows strength of single moms on 'Naked and Afraid', Kyle to open first Costco Wholesale this March, Former Boerne quarterback allegedly gave plays to other XFL teams, A one-of-a-kind Hill Country rooftop bar will be a cowboy's dream, WATCH: Drunk driver attempts to flee crash that killed a Texas cop, Massive alligator shocks South Texas locals in Atascosa County. FN4. Both expressed regret for their role in the killings. Thus, we deny a COA on this final issue. Point of error five is overruled. 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. 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. ", Their battered and decomposing bodies, left to mummify in a wooded field in the relentless heat of Houston's summer, were found four days after they disappeared. Dr. Robert Cantu, chief of neurosurgery at Emerson Hospital in Concord, Mass., and one of the nation's foremost authorities on concussions and brain trauma in youth sports, called the decision to . Points one and two claim constitutional error in the trial court denying his requested punishment jury charge instruction informing the jury that pursuant to Article 42.18, 8(b)(2), V.A.C.C.P., a prisoner serving a life sentence for capital murder is not parole eligible until the actual calendar time served, without consideration of good conduct time, equals 35 calendar years. LAST NOTE PRODUCTIONS-Pete Cantu part 2 of 4Elgin's 23rd annual Hogeye Festival elgin Texas 10-23-2010. Even more than a decade later, the mention of their last names could generate disgust and fear, with many people remembering the vivid and gruesome details of the girls assault and death in the dark woods by White Oak Bayou. [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? Appellant asserts in points twelve and thirteen that the Texas death penalty has been arbitrarily imposed and is unconstitutional because of the different capital sentencing schemes that have been in effect since the early 1970's. The inferences drawn by the prosecutor from the evidence were not so extreme or improper as to rise to the level of reversible error. on Under Strickland v. Washington, Cantu must show: (1) that his trial counsel's performance was deficient; and (2) that the deficient performance prejudiced him. denied, 492 U.S. 912, 109 S.Ct. First, as the district court recognized, admitting such graphic photographs does not offend due process when the photographs are used to add illustration to testimony describing the details of the crime, as was done here. denied, 516 U.S. 832, 116 S.Ct. Follow. Date of Birth: 05/27/75 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. The excerpt was also relevant as to the witness' credibility as it contradicted her testimony that she did not find the murders of Jennifer Ertman and Elizabeth Pena somehow funny or amusing. denied, 510 U.S. 905, 114 S.Ct. Medellin later complained that "the bitch wouldn't die" and that it would have been "easier with a gun". Expressions of sympathy may be sent at www.schaetter.com. Appellant argues that the phrase or anticipated that a human life would be taken renders Article 37.071 2(b)(2) unconstitutional because the phrase lacks the required culpability. Members of the gang, including Cantu, then began a vicious sexual assault of the girls. Or when they were saying, I fucked her in the pussy, he said, yeah, I remember I did that, too. 155, 130 L.Ed.2d 94 (1994): Id. However, he does contend the evidence is insufficient to support the jury's affirmative answer to the special issue on future dangerousness. All Rights Reserved. The court, the attorney representing the state, the defendant, or the defendant's counsel may not inform a juror or a prospective juror of the effect of a failure of a jury to agree on issues submitted under Subsection (c) or (e) of this article. However, this holding was subsequently rejected by the Seventh Circuit. Petitioner filed application for certificate of appealability (COA). denied, 514 U.S. 1005, 115 S.Ct. 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. Point of error twelve is overruled. "I think whatever they did, no matter how much there is, they should stand trial for every single thing." Our concern is that the indigent defendant have access to a competent psychiatrist for the purpose we have discussed, and as in the case of the provision of counsel we leave to the State the decision on how to implement this right. ", 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. Point of error eight is overruled. ), cert. Point of error seven is overruled. 2216 91st St, Lubbock, TX 79423 921 Adrian St, Lubbock, TX 79403 2311 49th St, Lubbock, TX 79412. He raped Jennifer and was later sentenced to 40 years for aggravated sexual assault, which was the maximum sentence for a juvenile. We have held that, to constitute proper jury argument, the argument must encompass one (or more) of the following: (1) summation of the evidence presented at trial, (2) reasonable deduction drawn from that evidence, (3) answer to the opposing counsel's argument, or (4) a plea for law enforcement. A jury is permitted to look at several factors in its review of future dangerousness including, but not limited to: Jennifer and Elizabeth first encountered Roman and Frank as they made their way home, but managed to pass them without incident. Some of the other boys, including Derrick O'Brien, Jose Medellin, and Venancio Medellin, also gave confessions. 270, 277 (5th Cir.2007); Jackson v. Dretke, 181 Fed.Appx. * that appellant threatened to kill an officer of the law; and 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. He gave no final statement and showed no remorse for his acts. 315 followers. Jester Park in Houston to participate in a gang initiation ritual. One of the gang members grabbed Pena. As we do not find the prosecutor's argument to be manifestly prejudicial or improper, we need not address appellant's contention that the nexus requirement is no longer valid given the enactment of Article 37.071, Section 2(e). You are further instructed that if there is any testimony before you in this case regarding the defendant's having committed offenses other than the offense alleged against him in the indictment, you cannot consider said testimony for any purpose unless you find and believe beyond a reasonable doubt that the defendant committed such other offenses, if any were committed, and even then you may only consider the same in determining the answers to the special issues. He let out a final breath at 6:17 p.m. and peacefully died. "Nah," Cantu replied. His only supporters were a handful of death penalty abolitionists who showed up to protest capital punishment in general. 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. Because the consideration and weighing of mitigating evidence is an open-ended, subjective determination engaged in by each individual juror, we conclude that Article 37.071 2(f)(4) does not unconstitutionally narrow the jury's discretion to factors concerning only moral blameworthiness as appellant alleges. Shaw, a former employee, was caught on camera Sept. 14 taking a pallet of meat with an estimated value of more than $6,400 dollars from the company, 1325 S. Brazos St., according to an arrest warrant affidavit. Every memory left on the online obituary will be automatically included in the book. Summary of incident: Convicted in the abductions and murders of Jennifer Ertman, 14, and Elizabeth Pena, 16, in Houston. Her body, nude from the waist down, was found by police on January 4, 1993 with her blood-soaked clothing strewn about her. For more information about Border Patrol's Head of the Class Program or Youth of the Year Scholarship, please contact Supervisory Border Patrol Agent Pete Cantu at 956-289-5686. Background: Following affirmance of his conviction for capital murder and his death sentence, 939 S.W.2d 627, state inmate filed petition for writ of habeas corpus. Appellant alleges in point of error seven that the trial court reversibly erred in allowing the State to impeach defense witness Beatrice Martinez on a collateral matter. Wasn't no pain. The girls were abducted by Cantu and four members of a street gang he led as they walked along a set of railroad tracts, a shortcut home for them. Nine minutes later, he was dead. These arguments are unavailing. The families hope to keep him in jail for his entire sentence, of which he has served almost half. 2254(d). Joe Cantu had watched the group divide the girls small amount of cash and meager possessions and listened to them laugh and brag about the assaults. Joe Cantu, brother of ringleader Peter Cantu, whose call to police had led to the arrests in the Ertman/Pena murders, had again contacted authorities and told them that he recalled O'Brien bragging about another murder that occurred before the girls were killed. Chambers v. State, 866 S.W.2d 9, 27 (Tex.Crim.App. In making this comparison, the prosecution referred to the challenged photographs. document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); Our Hometown Thus, reasonable jurists would not disagree with the district court's determination that the state court's conclusion was not an unreasonable application of federal law. The 14-year-old, Venancio Medellin, was handled in juvenile court and given the maximum sentence, split between juvenile and adult prison facilities. Best Match Powered by Whitepages Premium AGE 80+ Pete Cantu Edinburg, TX Aliases Pedro O Cantu View Full Report Addresses N 19th Ave, Edinburg, TX Pete Cantu in Texas We found 49 records for Pete Cantu in Edinburg, Austin and 36 other cities in Texas. HUNTSVILLE The legal saga that began several days after the horrifying murder of two teenage Houston girls in 1993 came to an end Tuesday night with the execution of Peter Anthony Cantu, a former gang leader who all but ordered the execution of Jennifer Ertman and Elizabeth Pena. Banda v. State, 890 S.W.2d 42, 54 (Tex.Crim.App.1994), cert. Information on every contractor in United States. Does it rise to that level? 1910, 150 L.Ed.2d 9 (2001) (using the clearly drafted catchall instruction of Texas Code of Criminal Procedure article 37.071 2(e)(1) as a frame of reference to compare its brevity and clarity against the confusing nature of the supplemental instruction given in that case). 2052, and, notably, the mere possibility of a different outcome is not sufficient to prevail on [this] prong, Crane v. Johnson, 178 F.3d 309, 312 (5th Cir.1999). Police traced the 911 call to the Cantu home, and Joe passed on what he knew. denied, 490 U.S. 1102, 109 S.Ct. Christina subsequently convinced her husband to report the incident to the police. BCSO spokesman Roseanne Hughes. "They are still in our hearts and prayers.". denied, 510 U.S. 829, 114 S.Ct. 3230, 106 L.Ed.2d 578 (1989); San Miguel v. State, 864 S.W.2d 493, 495-96 (Tex.Crim.App.1993), cert. In Payne v. Tennessee, 501 U.S. 808, 111 S.Ct. Whether to grant a COA is a threshold inquiry that involves an overview of the claims in the habeas petition and a general assessment of their merits but does not require full consideration of the factual or legal bases adduced in support of the claims. Id.