Did Texas Execute an Innocent Man?

[Thekla]

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/front/3471520.html

Nov. 19, 2005, 4:19PM
Did Texas execute an innocent man?


By LISE OLSEN
© 2005 Houston Chronicle

Texas executed its fifth teenage offender at 22 minutes after midnight on Aug. 24, 1993, after his last request for bubble gum had been refused and his final claim of innocence had been forever silenced.
...

A dozen years after his execution, a Houston Chronicle investigation suggests that Cantu, a former special-ed student who grew up in a tough neighborhood on the south side of San Antonio, was likely telling the truth.

Cantu's long-silent co-defendant, David Garza, just 15 when the two boys allegedly committed a murder-robbery together, has signed a sworn affidavit saying he allowed his friend to be falsely accused, though Cantu wasn't with him the night of the killing.

And the lone eyewitness, the man who survived the shooting, has recanted. He told the Chronicle he's sure that the person who shot him was not Cantu, but he felt pressured by police to identify the boy as the killer. Juan Moreno, an illegal immigrant at the time of the shooting, said his damning in-court identification was based on his fear of authorities and police interest in Cantu.

Cantu "was innocent. It was a case of an innocent person being killed," Moreno said.



This is sickening. The death penalty is bad enough for guilty people but teenagers with mental handicaps? In my state he'd get to appeal based on the recantations. Too late in Texas. Just sickening.

[mdzialo1]

As a rule, I think it's good that we try to cherish the innocent and punish the guilty. I am sick of innocent victims being murdered. Sixteen thousand innocent victims were shot dead in the USA last year.

But if your IQ is low, does that mean robbery and murder are OK? Do special ed students know the difference between right and wrong or don't they? I think the science suggests they do indeed know right and wrong, which is why they go to trial when they commit robbery and murder.

If David Garza let his friend be accused and convicted of murder, when he knew it was a lie, he should be in jail for that, too.

If Jauan Moreno (an illegal immigrant) lied when he testified about the murder, then he should be in jail for that.

It is unfortunate those two losers were they eyewitnesses, and that there were no other eye witnesses. Though I guess that's because the others were dead.