Iván Cantú, the 50-year-old Latino prisoner sentenced to death in 2001 for the murders of his cousin, James Mosqueda, and his fiancée, Amy Kitchen, was executed Wednesday night in Texas.
The inmate of Hispanic origin died in the Huntsville Unit prison. In his last words he insisted on his innocence, just as he has for the last two decades, building a movement around him led by popular faces like Jane Fonda, Martin Sheen and Kim Kardashian calling for the suspension of his execution.
I want you to know that I never killed James and Amy. And if I did, if I knew who did, you would’ve been the first to know any information.
As AFP recalls, state authorities denied the requests for clemency despite the evidence that appeared for a possible new investigation of the case. Iván Cantú's then partner, Amy Boettcher, now deceased, testified that he had admitted his guilt and that he took her to Mosqueda's house to show her the bodies and search for drugs. Boettcher's brother also accused him, but later recanted. Among the evidence at the trial, a pair of pants with blood from the victims that was found in the trash can in Cantú's kitchen was shown. His lawyers maintain that Boettcher lied and that another person placed the pants in the trash can and that they did not belong to the defendant.
Stalled execution in Idaho
Meanwhile, the execution in Idaho of convicted serial killer Thomas Creech, 73, was stalleed Wednesday after a medical team repeatedly and unsuccessfully tried to inject him with the lethal substance.
Creech was tied to a table in the execution chamber for an hour while they tried to establish an intravenous line to administer the drugs that would end his life, prison officials and witnesses said in statements reported by AFP.
Idaho Department of Corrections (IDOC) Director Josh Tewalt said the execution was called off after eight attempts to place a line in Creech's arms and legs failed.
Creech, who has been on death row for more than 40 years and was to be the first person executed in Idaho in more than a decade, was sentenced to death for murdering his cellmate in 1981. He was already serving time for five other murders, although he claimed to have committed dozens more.
