Cantu has not shown that the state court's rejection of his Beck claim was contrary to, or an unreasonable application of, federal law. Web15K. The medical examiner testified that Elizabeth's two front teeth were knocked out of her brutalized mouth before she died and that two of Jennifer's ribs were broken after she had died. Other judicial doctrines, such as the harmless-error doctrine and the non-retroactivity principle, bridle federal habeas relief. In Penry II, when striking down Texas' former sentencing scheme, the Supreme Court called the new statute "[a] clearly drafted catchall instruction on mitigating evidence" and a model of "brevity and clarity." See 28 U.S.C. Texas law defined mitigating circumstances as "evidence that a juror might regard as reducing the defendant's moral blameworthiness." 28 at 664. One of the boys boasted of having 'virgin blood' on him. The gang continued drinking and 'shooting the breeze' for some time and then decided to leave. R. EVID. A horrifying WebShe sat in the front row with Elizabeth's uncle, and when the crime scene photos were placed upon the tables for the lawyers to look over, she saw everything. TEX. I attended all five trials with the Ertmans and know too well the awful things that they and the Penas had to hear and see in the course of seeing Justice served for their girls. The jury's answers to the special issues required the trial court to impose a death sentence. Police said the Waltrip High While in state and federal court Cantu has mentioned prejudice flowing from the crime-scene video, his complaints have focused most strongly on the admission of allegedly prejudicial photographs. His war on terror is a sham - if he was so concerned about terrorists why does he allow American citizens to be murdered by Mexican terrorists on own soil. 13, 2006) (unpublished), and has unconditionally applied Beck to all inmates who have received a death sentence, the Court will apply Beck to Cantu's claim. "It is not enough that the jury may disbelieve crucial evidence pertaining to the greater offense. They were friends who attended the same high school in Houston, Texas, Waltrip High School. Medellin was 14 at the time of the killings and has served 27 years of his 40-year sentence, the maximum punishment allowed for a juvenile. After several gang members fought Villareal, the group started drinking. Vol. In 1989, however, the Supreme Court held that Texas' then-operative system did not always provide an effective vehicle for considering mitigating evidence. Cantu said the girls "had to die [so] they couldn't identify them." The gang members described how they murdered the girls. The trial court reviewed the other photographs, found that they were essential to explain the medical examiner testimony, and discussed with the prosecution how to best present the photographs without shocking the jury. Vol. Williams v. Taylor, 529 U.S. 362, 413 (2000); see also Bell v. Cone, 535 U.S. 685, 698 (2002); Early v. Packer, 537 U.S. 3, 7-8 (2002). Strickland only commands relief when an inmate shows a reasonable probability of a different result. Venancio received a 40-year prison sentence. The prosecution argued that Cantu eschewed opportunities for rehabilitation. Vol. Fourteen-year-old Venancio Medellin was present at the crime, participated in raping the girls, and testified at trial about each gang member's involvement in the sexual assault and killing. Cantu gave Officer Parish an oral account of his acts on the night of the murders, which Officer Parish reduced to writing. His knowledge of the crimes came from the killers themselves, most of whom came to his home after the murders, bragging and swapping the jewelry they had stolen from the girls. might . Under Texas law, capital murder subsumes the lesser crimes of murder, kidnapping, and sexual assault. East v. Scott, 55 F.3d 996, 1005 (5th Cir. The Furman Court established that a state capital sentencing system must satisfy two requirements to be constitutionally acceptable: it must "rationally narrow the class of death-eligible defendants" and "permit a jury to render a reasoned, individualized sentencing determination based on a death-eligible defendant's record, personal characteristics, and the circumstances of his crime." Habeas relief is not available on Cantu's ineffective-assistance-of-counsel claims. The argument and related visual images brought into focus testimony describing the degraded condition of the victims' bodies that was already vividly before the jury. Against this backdrop, Cantu accuses Texas of perpetuating Penry error after the legislative renovation in 1991. No mercy for the bastard. He then apologized to his own family before he was executed by lethal injection. Vol. 12 at 11.) Entry No. The Ertmans and Penas gathered friends and neighbors to help them pass out a huge stack of fliers with the girls' pictures all over the Houston area, even giving them to newspaper vendors on the roadside. In 2005, Texas revised its capital sentencing statute. I have no good words left for President Bush. Vol. The police arrested the gang members simultaneously. (Doc. See 28 U.S.C. The gang members ran and grabbed Elizabeth and pulled her down the incline, off of the tracks. (Doc. 22 at 396. Nothing in Penry I signaled a wholesale rejection of Texas' special issues, yet the Supreme Court failed to articulate how to determine what evidence evaded Texas' sentencing review. Randy Ertman sits on the railroad tracks near the location where the bodies of two young women were found. Clerk's Record at 276. Memorials to Ertman and Pea in TC Jester Park: In the background is the railroad bridge where the two were initially attacked. The prosecution closed with the following statement that Cantu complains was inflammatory but went unchallenged by his trial attorneys: Cantu "concedes that the argument was responsive, but not that it was invited." Cantu, like his co-defendant, offers no persuasive showing that constitutional error crept into the jury instructions or somehow prevented consideration of his mitigation evidence. 2 at 13.) This Court will not certify any issue for review by the Fifth Circuit. 21 at 323-24. According to trial testimony, both Pea and Ertman repeatedly glanced in the direction of one another several times throughout their ordeal in likely gestures of concern and despair. Failure to Make a Due Process Objection to the Allegedly Inflammatory Material. The Fifth Circuit refused to grant a Certificate of Appealability from the district court's denial of habeas relief in O'Brien. art. See 28 U.S.C. Plentiful and detailed evidence demonstrated Cantu's culpability for capital murder. Ertman could have easily run to escape at this point, but ran to help her friend. 21 at 320-21, Vol. Vol. When the police informed him that O'Brien confessed, Cantu provided the following statement relating his role in the murders: Tr. A review of the circumstances leading to Cantu's two statements and the trial context as a whole prove that a rational jury would not have convicted Cantu of a lesser offense. Tr. Derrick O'Brien was the first to be executed, on July 11, 2006. DOES SHE HAVE BLOND HAIR?!!?". Dad is very angry because when President Bush was Governor he shook this mans hand and said these whatever in the hell these creatures are would be executed. Posted on 10/09/2007 7:44:26 AM PDT by beaversmom. The state habeas court concluded that the allegedly inflammatory statements were not made in error because they "properly summarized the evidence of the circumstances of the offense, made a reasonable inference that the jury would likely never forget those images, and properly presented a plea for law enforcement by urging the jury to `think about the two children in here that all you got left of them is right here.'" Cantu asserts that the Due Process Clause (claim one), the Eighth Amendment protection against Cruel and Unusual Punishment (claim two), and the Sixth Amendment's Compulsory Process Clause (claim three) required Texas to inform its capital juries about the operation of Texas' parole law. 21 at 227. He is not an eighteen year old child that didn't know what he was doing." Vol. WebJennifer Ertman and Elizabeth Pena, ages 14 and 15, were walking home from a party, taking a shortcut to make it home by their 11 p.m. curfew on June 24, 1993. Lockett v. Ohio, 438 U.S. 586, 604 (1978) (plurality opinion); see also Eddings v. Oklahoma, 455 U.S. 104, 114-15 (1982). I want them to suffer without stop until the end of time, until their very souls explode from sheer agony and pain. WebThe rapes and murders of Jennifer Ertman and Elizabeth Pea, two teenaged girls from Houston, Texas, aged 14 and 16, respectively, occurred on June 24, 1993. "As a general principle, Rule 56 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, relating to summary judgment, applies with equal force in the context of habeas corpus cases." See id. See Horn, 536 U.S. at 272 (relying on Teague v. Lane, 489 U.S. 288 (1989)). art. Tr. at 736. However, the Supreme Court "has never held that jury discretion must be unlimited or unguided; [it has] never suggested that jury consideration of mitigating evidence must be undirected or unfocused; [it has] never concluded that States cannot channel jury discretion in an effort to achieve a more rational and equitable administration of justice." A capital sentencing scheme must not preclude the jury "from considering, as a mitigating factor, any aspect of a defendant's character or record and of the circumstances of the offense that the defendant proffers as a basis for a sentence less than death." 2001) (citing Simmons, 512 U.S. at 168 n. 8). Tr. Third, Cantu alleges that his trial attorneys should have objected when the prosecution referred to the allegedly inflammatory material during closing arguments (claim twelve). Days later, Cantu's brother and sister-in-law reported what they had heard to the police. Tr. The state habeas court concluded that the prosecutor's statements were not "extreme or manifestly improper or inject[ed] new and harmful facts into the trial, in light of the record as a whole." The state court overruled the defense objection to most of the material. Cordova v. Lynaugh, 838 F.2d 764, 767 (5th Cir. Vol. The State of Texas prosecuted Cantu and his four fellow gang members simultaneously but in separate trials. Cantu's federal habeas petition raises twelve interrelated claims that the Court summarizes as follows: Cantu exhausted each of his claims in state court. For the next hour or so, these beautiful, innocent young girls were subjected to the most brutal gang rapes that most of the investigating officers had ever encountered. In light of the discussion above showing no due process violation, the state court could reasonably find that no Strickland deficient performance or prejudice flowed from trial and appellate counsel's failure to couple their arguments with a federal law objection. PROC. 21 at 328. 21 at 311. Prior to his execution, O'Brien expressed his regrets for his actions to the families of Pea and Ertman. 24 at 860. I believe only non violent offenders are capable of and deserving of rehabilitation. Tr. Cantu argues that his trial attorneys should have objected to the prosecution's encouragement to look at the allegedly inflammatory photographs as his "handy work" when weighing his fate. This action comes before the Court on Respondent Nathaniel Quarterman's answer and motion for summary judgment. 28 at 768-69. [not to] kill this child." Houston Police Department Officer Robert G. Parish informed Cantu of his constitutional rights. PROC. Ertman and Pea passed the gang and one member, Jos Medelln, attempted to grope and pinch one of Pea's breasts. Entry No. The trial court's instruction prevented the jury from giving any effect to the parole inferences before the jury. 21 at 299-300. Vol. Accordingly, Cantu has not shown that the state court's rejection of this claim was contrary to, or an unreasonable application of, federal law. He was the ringleader in a crime that struck a raw nerve for its Cantu now claims that the trial court violated the Constitution by limiting his ability to support the third argument, that he would not be violent if he became eligible for parole after a lengthy imprisonment. Both then completed the act by strangling the girl with a shoelace in Pea's presence. Id. Roman Sandoval testified that Cantu called him after the murders and essentially confessed to having raped and murdered the girls. Vol. The Court must decide whether a rational jury would have acquitted Cantu of capital murder and convicted him of another offense because it found only his first statement credible. 'Gonzalez' said that his brother was one of the six people involved in killing the girls, and gave police the names of all but one, the new recruit, whom he did not know. Tr. I assume that's why it's left such a strong impact on me. Next, Cassie goes over the most horrendous murder we've probably covered yet; the decapitation and murder of the Rubio siblings by the hand of their own parents in Brownsville. F-me, these stories get uglier and sadder every day. Tex. Part of the belt was left at the murder scene, the rest was found in O'Brien's home. The trial court held a suppression hearing. Still, the Court's task is not to substitute its judgment for that of the Texas state courts. The prosecution also used the allegedly inflammatory evidence to support testimony from: (1) two dentists who identified the victims from dental records and (2) a Harris County Assistant Medical Examiner who performed the autopsy. The gang members said that both girls were "killed the same way . Because the Fifth Circuit, however, has avoided ruling on this argument, see Foster v. Dretke, 2006 WL 616980 (5th Cir. Who provided the details? She felt sorry for the families and wanted them to be able to put their daughters' bodies to rest. While the prosecutor's comments were undeniably harsh, and this Court likely would not have allowed them, the state habeas court was not unreasonable in finding that they did not render the trial fundamentally unfair, particularly since the reference was brief and in response to the defense's closing argument. He didn't fuck with me because his cousin was my good friend. Rejecting a similar claim by one of Cantu's co-defendants, the Fifth Circuit noted that "the trial court's instructions taken alone, allowed the jury to consider and give effect to" the mitigating evidence presented at trial. However, Cantu objects that the instruction unnecessarily confined the jury's review to "evidence that a juror might regard as reducing the defendant's moral blameworthiness." They had spent the evening drinking beer and then "jumping in" Raul. They then each took a turn "jumping on her neck." Vol. 1996). Vol. 24 at 942. 1999)). It's his choice. The Fifth Circuit first noted that the jury instruction allowed full consideration of the mitigating evidence and otherwise complied with constitutional requirements. Vol. One of the gang members later said during the brag session that by the time he got to one of the girls, "she was loose and sloppy." (Doc. The prosecution's comment in this regard asked the jury to weigh Cantu's fate against that which he delivered to the victims: "[W]hen you consider the defendant and you hear all the facts and circumstances . He said he was told repeatedly by Peter Cantu to "get some". 23 at 699-703. Cantu asked the trial court to instruct the jury on three lesser-included offenses: murder, sexual assault, and/or kidnapping. Second, Cantu claims that his state appellate attorneys should have raised a due process claim on that basis (claim eleven). Instead, Cantu bases his claims on Simmons v. South Carolina, 512 U.S. 154, 169 (1994), which held that when "the alternative sentence to death is life without parole . The trial court did not allow any voir dire discussion of potential parole eligibility. 21 at 212. Jester Park. 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