In appellant's arraignment in open court, but outside the presence of the jury, the State read the indictment and appellant's counsel entered appellant's plea of not guilty. While the plain language of Article 36.01 indicates that an identical procedure should be followed in the jury's presence, it is not required by that language. The class is further limited in that the death penalty cannot be imposed on an individual convicted of capital murder unless the jury answers the special issues in the manner described in Article 37.071, Section 1, Code of Criminal Procedure. Banda v. State, 890 S.W.2d 42, 54 (Tex.Crim.App.1994), cert. Following this ritual, the boys drank beer, then they headed toward some nearby railroad tracks. She screamed. No crime warrants a sentence of death. Cantu next asserts that the method by which the Texas Code of Criminal Procedure presents the issue of mitigating evidence to a sentencing jury improperly prevents the consideration of constitutionally relevant evidence. When the police followed this suggestion, they found the badly decaying bodies of Jenny and Elizabeth. A visitation will be held from 10:00 AM to 11:00 AM with a Holy Rosary to be recited at 11:00 AM on Monday, February 21, 2022 at Holmgreen Mortuary, 2061 E. Main St., Alice, TX. [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. (1) determination that refusal to inform jury that, if petitioner received life sentence, he would not be eligible for parole for thirty-five years did not violate Due Process Clause was reasonable; 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. Point of error thirty-one is overruled. Hence, the Supreme Court removed the Eighth Amendment bar to evidence about the victim and evidence about the impact of the murder on the victim's family created by Booth v. Maryland, 482 U.S. 496, 107 S.Ct. 2597, 115 L.Ed.2d 720 (1991). The gist of the State's argument is the defense did not have any evidence in its favor, which is a proper response to defense counsel's just-completed argument that the evidence was insufficient to convict appellant of capital murder. In fact, while Rousseau actually addressed the pre-1991 version of the statute, we noted that the Interpretive Commentary to the revised 1991 statute, under which appellant was tried in the instant case, stated that the revisions foreclosed the potential for a challenge to the statute based upon Mills v. Maryland, 486 U.S. 367, 108 S.Ct. Cold, cruel, inhuman, and yet he has his attorney saying don't kill the child. Pete will be remembered for his infectious laugh and loving personality. 1029, 154 L.Ed.2d 931 (2003). And, finally, in point twenty-seven, appellant alleges that the scheme is unconstitutional as applied in that the future dangerousness issue does not encompass consideration of the act or conduct that formed the basis of conviction in any meaningful or standardized manner. Appellant combines all three of these points into one argument in which he basically alleges that the special issues do nothing to insure that the sentencer's decision was not an act of unbridled discretion.. That said, we resolve any doubts as to whether a COA should issue in the petitioner's favor when the death penalty is involved. In related point of error twenty, appellant contends that the trial court erred in not allowing him to question venirepersons regarding the burden of proof on the mitigation issue. Chambers v. State, 866 S.W.2d 9, 27 (Tex.Crim.App. In Ake v. Oklahoma, 470 U.S. 68, 105 S.Ct. Mr. Pedro "Pete" Cantu of Luckenbach, Texas passed away on Friday, January 31st, 2014 in the Hill Country Memorial Hospital in Fredericksburg, Texas at the age of 89 years. 440, 256 S.W.2d 86, 88 (1953); Tutor v. State, 599 S.W.2d 818, 819 (Tex.Crim.App.1980). The gang at the Texas company Ekstensive Metal Works build some of the most creative rides found anywhere. Find your friends on Facebook. Pete Cantu Alyssa Cantu John Alexander, 62 John Alexander, 88. has lived in . 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. Evidence concerning her sexual assault, robbery and murder is admissible as same transaction contextual evidence. Two of Cantu's companions in the gang they dubbed the Black and White preceded him to the death chamber. 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. 81(b)(2) I concur in overruling the point. Point of error nine is overruled. Appellant then parceled out jewelry and money he had taken from the girls. (internal quotation marks omitted). For instance, a special instruction is not mandated under our law requiring a jury to affirmatively answer whether they believed witness A, but not witness B. He contends in his twenty-sixth point of error that the scheme is unconstitutional as applied in that it fails to channel the sentencer's discretion. Patricia, a 27-year-old mother of two young children, had run out of gas and was stranded on the side of the freeway on her way home from a football game. Prior Prison Record: Cantu is also serving a 10 year sentence in connection with an aggravated asault on a Houston man in January 1993. Cantu's family did not attend his killing. Mexican-born Jose Medellin, 33, with needles in his arms, also apologized. Peter Cantu was the self-appointed leader of a gang in Houston that met on the night of June 24, 1993, to initiate a new member, Raul Villareal. [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? While a complete account of the facts is available in the district court's memorandum and order denying Cantu's federal habeas petition, we briefly summarize the grisly details that led to Cantu's conviction. She'd been raped and eviscerated. * * * He was frustrated that he had been the one who was unable to fight Raul. In points of error twenty-one and twenty-two, appellant challenges the sufficiency of the evidence to support the jury's answers to the issues on future dangerousness and mitigation. Hence, his point presents nothing for our review.FN12 Tex.R.App. A 14-year-old attacker was given a 40-year sentence. AUSTIN Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott offers the following information about Peter Anthony Cantu, who is scheduled to be executed after 6 p.m. on August 17, 2010. The murders also forced Houston city officials to treat gangs as a serious crime problem, when they had previously denied that there was a gang problem in the city. [W]hy do you consider mitigation, that's because the courts allow you to individualize the justice. (Habeas). Pete will be remembered for his infectious laugh and loving personality. PETE CANTU REAL ESTATE INC in San Antonio, TX | Company Info & Reviews Company Information Sponsored Links Company Contacts PETE CANTU Agent 2722 N Zarzamora St San Antonio, TX Reviews Write Review There are no reviews yet for this company. document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); Our Hometown 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. After the girls were strangled, Cantu kicked Pena in the face with his steel-toed boots, knocking out several of her teeth. 2/3/94 -- A jury found Cantu guilty of capital murder. 8/11/09 -- The federal appeals court affirmed the denial of certificate of appealability. Nowhere will you find the court instructing you that you have to find any evidence that you've heard in this case mitigating. 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. KELLER, J., concurs in the result on point of error eight and joins in the remainder of the opinion. The testimony of M. Pena consisted of her telling the jury about her family and showing the jury pictures of the victim's sixteenth birthday party. 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. Owner at Last Note Productions. 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. the Art. Additionally, in this case, I point out that appellant elicited testimony from an expert witness about studies indicating that the defendant who serves 35 calendar years in the Texas Department of Corrections before becoming parole eligible is less violent than the inmate who is paroled sooner; i.e. See Tucker v. State, 771 S.W.2d 523, 533-34 (Tex.Crim.App.1988), cert. 2023 Holmgreen Mortuary. [WITNESS:] He just said, I did that, too. denied, 513 U.S. 861, 115 S.Ct. Does it rise to that level? 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. However, this holding was subsequently rejected by the Seventh Circuit. See Article 36.15; Tex.R.App. However, the protesters in attendance did little more than annoy the families. Pedro was born on November 5, 1924 in Floresville, Texas to Vincente and Tiadosa Robles Cantu. Cantu kicked Elizabeth in the face with his steel toe boots, knocking out several teeth, and he stepped on Jennifers neck until she stopped moving. "He did a horrendous crime to these two girls and he deserved to die. ), cert. Given the sparsity of the victim impact evidence, the fact that it was not mentioned by the State during arguments (appellant did briefly refer to this testimony during his punishment arguments), and the overwhelming focus during the punishment phase on appellant's behavior and the circumstances of the offense, we conclude the victim impact evidence made no contribution to punishment. The inexplicable act of random predation struck a chord among city residents as few other cases. 1337, 127 L.Ed.2d 685 (1994). 2934, 106 L.Ed.2d 256 (1989). Two other inmates have 2010 execution dates. 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. 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. Therefore, if you find, or have a reasonable doubt thereof, that the defendant at the time of the commission of the offense for which he is on trial, was laboring under mental or physical incapacity caused by voluntary intoxication, then you may take such condition into consideration in mitigation of the penalty attached to the offense for which the defendant is being tried. 381, 121 L.Ed.2d 292 (1992). A red nylon belt, with an attacker tugging at each end, was pulled so tightly around Ertman's neck the belt snapped. Later Cantu and his accomplices were said to have joked about the brutal killings. Rule App. "They become everybody's daughter," recalled Don Smyth, a retired Harris County assistant district attorney who had helped prosecute Cantu. 2556, 135 L.Ed.2d 1074 (1996). Article 27.16 states that: He then notes that the Texas Constitution proscribes cruel or unusual punishments while the Eighth Amendment prohibits cruel and unusual punishments. We have previously rejected this argument. Pete Cantu in Texas. 2658, 125 L.Ed.2d 290 (1993). Funeral arrangements are under the direction of the Schaetter Funeral Home, Fredericksburg. See also Green, supra. For a rational jury to find that appellant was guilty only of murder, some evidence must exist in the record that appellant did not commit sexual assault, robbery, or kidnapping or did not kill during the commission of or in the immediate flight from committing any of these offenses. Tuilaepa v. California, 512 U.S. 967, 979-80, 114 S.Ct. Because the second prong of the Rousseau test was not met, appellant was not entitled to a charge on the lesser included offenses of sexual assault, robbery, or kidnapping. 2458, 104 L.Ed.2d 1013 (1989); Harris v. State, 827 S.W.2d 949, 962 (Tex.Crim.App.
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