Ruben Cantu - An innocent man executed in Texas. [View All]

[Catherine Vincent]

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/editorial/3479155.html

Death penalty doubts

The case of Ruben Cantu may provide the smoking gun capital punishment opponents have sought in Texas: the execution of an innocent man. Up until his death by lethal injection in the summer of 1993, San Antonian Ruben Cantu steadfastly claimed that he had been framed at the age of 17 for shooting two men during a robbery. One of them died, and the other lived to bear witness against him. An investigation of Cantu's conviction by the Chronicle's Lise Olsen provides persuasive evidence that his execution by the state was a mistake.

Opponents of capital punishment point to the fact that the Texas criminal justice system is far from fool-proof. Inevitably, they argue, death sentences will cause innocent people to suffer the ultimate, irreversible miscarriage of justice. The poor are at greatest risk of falling victim to a wrongful death sentence, as they must rely on an appointed lawyer who might not give the case his full attention. Every step of the way, from arrest to conviction to eventual execution, Cantu's history matches that scenario.

The 15-year-old who admitted participating in the crime, David Garza, has signed an affidavit claiming Cantu was not the gunman and was not at the scene of the shooting. Garza, incarcerated for an unrelated burglary, says both he and Cantu took a vow of secrecy not to identify the killer. He says he's speaking out now because he continues to be tormented by his failure to prevent the execution of his friend. The surviving witness, Juan Moreno, testified at the trial that Cantu was the killer. Moreno claims police pressured him to ID Cantu after showing him Cantu's picture numerous times. He now says he is sure Cantu was not the man who shot him.

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And I am sure he wasn't the first nor will he be the last. :-(