22 at 394. . Respondent asks this Court not to apply Beck to Cantu's claim because, unlike the defendant in that case, Cantu faced a situation where the jury chose between acquittal and a capital conviction, not acquittal and an automatic death sentence. . Vol. Please try again later. The gang members said that both girls were "killed the same way . In his first statement, Cantu admitted to a limited role in kidnapping, raping, and robbing the two girls. 37.071(e)(2)(b) (Vernon 2002).
Venancio Medellin could not see what the other gang members were doing with Ms. Pena because he left the wooded area before the girls died. Follow Deborah Wrigley on Facebook and Twitter. DOJ tentatively settles over Texas church shooting for $144M. 
It is not likely that, having denied Cantu's objection under the Texas more-probative-than-prejudicial standard, the trial court would find that the challenged material rendered the trial fundamentally unfair under the Due Process Clause. The state court records consist of a Clerk's Record that contains pretrial motions, trial court orders, jury instructions, and other pleadings, cited as "Clerk's Record at "; a 32-volume Statement of Facts, including hearings on pretrial motions, jury voir dire, the guilt/innocence phase, and the penalty phase, cited as "Tr. Entry No. This Court would have struck the balance differently in deciding whether to admit the challenged photographs.
24 at 932-33; Tr.
). art. ChatGPT; Midjourney; DALL E2; Khc; eight of swords friendship jennifer ertman autopsy. I thought you might like to see a memorial for Jennifer Lee Ertman I found on Findagrave.com. He said yeah." The State used substantially the same language when prosecuting O'Brien for his role in the Ertman/Pena murders. The record does not prove that a rational jury would have believed only the account Cantu gave in his first statement.
21 at 324-27.
21 at 328. The Tennard court found that the Fifth Circuit's precedent "ha[d] no foundation in the decisions of [the Supreme] Court." PRO.
2. Entry No. The Court of Criminal Appeals' rejection of this claim was not contrary to, or an unreasonable application of, federal law. A red nylon belt was pulled so tight around Jennifer Ertman's neck that the belt snapped. Tr. 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. Clerk's Record at 276. 12.)
The Beck Court held that a State cannot "impose a blanket ban on lesser-included-offense instructions in capital cases. He then transcribed a detailed second statement in which Cantu confessed to his role in the actual murder of the two girls.
Second, Cantu claims that his state appellate attorneys should have raised a due process claim on that basis (claim eleven). Houston Police Department Officer Robert G. Parish informed Cantu of his constitutional rights. We have set your language to Other gang members confessed that they only participated because they were "just following whatever Peter Cantu was doing."
Cantu does not challenge the prosecutor's statements as a separate due process challenge.
This case is ripe for adjudication. 21 at 307-08.
Clearly established Supreme Court precedent applies Simmons "only to instances where, as a legal matter, there is no possibility of parole if the jury decides the appropriate sentence is life in prison."
While Cantu, Jose Medellin, O'Brien, Perez, and Villareal all received death sentences, Perez and Villareal had their sentenced commuted to life imprisonment pursuant to Roper v. Simmons, 543 U.S. 551 (2005), because they were minors when they participated in the killings. 21 at 235. Vol.
Five individuals were convicted of the assaults, rapes, and murders in five different trials. Texas law defined mitigating circumstances as "evidence that a juror might regard as reducing the defendant's moral blameworthiness." Cantu read the statement and, in the presence of two other police officers, signed it. As required by Texas practice, the trial court conducted a balancing test before allowing the allegedly inflammatory material into evidence. 
Failed to delete flower. . See Anderson v. Liberty Lobby, Inc., 477 U.S. 242, 255 (1986) ("The evidence of the nonmovant is to be believed, and all justifiable inferences are to be drawn in his favor."). Respondent has moved for summary judgment. Cantu does not raise a separate claim that the Due Process Clause prohibited the introduction of the allegedly inflammatory photographs and video. "In order to ensure `reliability in the determination that death is the appropriate punishment in a specific case,'" Penry I held that "the jury must be able to consider and give effect to any mitigating evidence relevant to a defendant's background and character or the circumstances of the crime." The Fifth Circuit then framed the constitutional issue: "In an instance where prosecutorial statements allegedly influence a jury's interpretation of the statutory charge, the proper inquiry is whether there is a reasonable likelihood that the jury has applied the instructions in a way that prevents it from considering constitutionally relevant evidence."
See Smith v. Cockrell, 311 F.3d 661, 668 (5th Cir. or don't show this againI am good at figuring things out.
Clerk's Record at 278. Vol. O'Brien, 156 F. App'x at 736. The state court found that the trial court properly admitted the material, suggesting that any additional objection would have been fruitless. 21 at 223-24. To use this feature, use a newer browser.
(Doc. Cantu claims that the prosecution in his case compounded the statutory deficiencies by asking the jury to weigh his evidence in a manner similar to the Fifth Circuit's rejected constitutional-relevancy test (claim 7). 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. Sadly, they Here, Cantu's attorneys argued that, if he were to receive a death sentence, he, like the victims, would be killed. WebCategory: Autopsy Photos Famous and infamous people on the slab. Gathers, 490 U.S. at 818.
Along came two girls, Jennifer Ertman, 14, and Elizabeth Pena, 16, taking a shortcut home from a friend's house.
Also, the record must contain some evidence that would permit the jury to find the defendant guilty of only the lesser crime. Publisher. Texas has already executed O'Brien and Medellin. 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 . Woods v. Johnson, 75 F.3d 1017, 1039 (5th Cir. Translation on Find a Grave is an ongoing project. Jurek, 428 U.S. at 271. Its only task is to determine whether the petitioner meets the extremely stringent standards for federal habeas corpus relief. 2254(e)(1).
PENAL CODE 19.02 (murder). 2254(d) "does not require federal habeas courts to grant relief reflexively").
Vol. IMDb is the world's most popular and authoritative source for movie, TV and celebrity content. The state habeas court indeed concluded that Cantu had procedurally defaulted any due process objection to the material. Cantu now bases a significant portion of his habeas petition on the argument that the jury should not have seen photographs of the girls' corpses. Failure to Object to Prosecutorial Argument. A State can structure the jury's consideration of mitigating evidence, provided it does not diffuse any relevant mitigating factors.
Tr. 9780786018512. eBay Product ID (ePID) 64157462. Nothing in federal precedent indicates that Texas' current means of putting mitigating evidence before the jury violates the Constitution. The importance of mitigating evidence in capital trials cannot be gainsaid. 21 at 327. . While the jury may have been able to infer that Cantu could not have been paroled before the end of that period, Texas law hindered him from fully explaining parole ineligibility to the jury.
The state habeas court found that "the State's punishment argument referring to the admitted photographs and the injuries shown in such photographs is a summary of the evidence concerning the circumstances of the offense and the complainant's and Elizabeth Pena's resulting injuries, and such argument is a reasonable inference that such photographs are unforgettable to the jury." 1990). His history, however, might well permit the inference that Cantu's horrific, homicidal bestiality on the night of June 24th was aberrational and not proof that his life was beyond redemption.
2 at 27.) In 1994, Jose Medellin was convicted and sentenced to death in Texas for the rape and murder of two teenage girls, Jennifer Ertman and Elizabeth Pena.
There are no volunteers for this cemetery. 22 at 395. Cantu seeks to extend Simmons to Texas' former sentencing statute. See Darden v. Wainwright, 477 U.S. 168, 180 (1986); Caldwell v. Mississippi, 472 U.S. 320, 337-38 (1985); Rogers v. Lynaugh, 848 F.2d 606, 608 (5th Cir. East v. Scott, 55 F.3d 996, 1005 (5th Cir.
1998). Cantu was again informed of and waived his rights. Tr. 28 at 768-69.
Elizabeth Pea, 16, and Jennifer Ertman, 14, were best friends. When the gang members finished bragging about the rapes, Joe Cantu asked what happened to the girls.
at 272-73. In Beck, "the jury [was] given the choice of either convicting the defendant of the capital crime, in which case it is required to impose the death penalty, or acquitting him, thus allowing him to escape all penalties for his alleged participation in the crime."
WebLike most plants, it does best in moist but well-drained soil. 1988) (emphasis added); see also Ransom v. Johnson, 126 F.3d 716, 726 (5th Cir. Summary judgment is proper when the record shows "no genuine issue as to any material fact and that the moving party is entitled to judgment as a matter of law." In the first version, he admitted to a limited role in raping the girls. Entry No.
This browser does not support getting your location. Ries v. Quarterman, 522 F.3d 517, 530 (5th Cir.
vote for a capital conviction if the only alternative was to set the defendant free with no punishment at all"). Prosecutorial Argument Concerning Mitigating Evidence.
He was silent about their deaths.
24 at 929-24; SX 5 and 6. Jan. 13, 2005); Perez v. Cockrell, 77 F. App'x 201, 202-03 (5th Cir. This flower has been reported and will not be visible while under review. 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. at 734. Simmons, however, only applies to a capital sentencing scheme that provides for life without the possibility of parole. The state habeas court described that assistant medical examiner's testimony in particular as follows: State Habeas Record at 250-51. 42.18 8(b)(2) (1991). 28 at 787 (emphasis added). See TEX. The Court must decide whether, by statute or in practice, Texas prevented Cantu's jury from giving effect to his mitigating evidence. Tr. ISBN-13. Tennard, 542 U.S. at 284-85. refuse a lesser-included offense instruction `if the jury could rationally acquit on the capital crime and convict for the noncapital crime. At trial, Cantu did not give the jury a strong reason to disbelieve his second statement.
PROC. Vol. Laura Ingraham today Sadly, they never made it.
In Penry v. Johnson, 532 U.S. 782, 804 (2001) (" Penry II"), the Supreme Court found that the supplemental mitigating instructions given before 1991 amounted to an "ineffective and illogical" mechanism for giving effect to mitigating evidence. The Fifth Circuit has held that the use of the term "moral blameworthiness" does not prevent the jury from considering mitigating circumstances because "[v]irtually any mitigating evidence is capable of being viewed as having some bearing on the defendant's `moral culpability'" apart from the concerns identified in the other special issues. Vol. Congress, through the AEDPA, has constricted both the nature and availability of habeas review. 28 U.S.C. Share this memorial using social media sites or email. You can always change this later in your Account settings.
In rejecting similar claims, the Fifth Circuit has emphasized that Texas courts interpret the statute broadly, holding that "all mitigating evidence can be given effect" under the definition. Oops, some error occurred while uploading your photo(s). In his initial statement, Cantu reluctantly admitted to a limited role in raping and stealing from the girls. Anderson, 477 U.S. at 254.
A court may only issue a COA when "the applicant has made a substantial showing of the denial of a constitutional right." The Supreme Court has not, however, extended the Simmons holding beyond "when, assuming the jury fixes the sentence at life, the defendant is ineligible for parole under state law." 21 at 116-11. Vol.
. cemeteries found in Houston, Harris County, Texas, USA will be saved to your photo volunteer list. Tr. Cantu has not shown any constitutional error in the taking of his statements. Cantu premises his argument on the assumption that a jury's knowledge of parole eligibility will inure to the benefit of the defense. Web490K views 2 years ago. Tr. Until the Texas state legislature could revise the capital sentencing scheme to comply with Penry I, courts attempted to correct the statutory inadequacy through jury instructions. Yarborough v. Gentry, 540 U.S. 1, 4 (2003); see also Wiggins v. Smith, 539 U.S. 510, 521 (2003). The state habeas court's decision in that regard was not contrary to, or an unreasonable application of, federal law. The state court, however, found that certain photographs (SX 113, 114, 121, 131, 132, 135, 138, and 152) should not be admitted. For instance, trial counsel asked Dr. James W. Marquart, a professor of Criminal Justice at Sam Houston University, if "studies indicate that the defendant who serves thirty-five calendar years in the Texas Department of Corrections before becoming eligible is less violent than the inmate who is paroled earlier." Clear, binding precedent forecloses relief on Cantu's claims. The AEDPA forbids habeas relief on issues "adjudicated on the merits" in state court unless the state decision "was contrary to, or an unreasonable application of, clearly established Federal law" or "was based on an unreasonable determination of the facts in light of the evidence presented in the State court proceeding." Also, the state habeas court found that the probative value of the photographs outweighed any prejudicial effect. A state court unreasonably applies federal law when it "identifies the correct governing legal rule from [the Supreme Court] cases but unreasonably applies it to the particular facts of the particular state prisoner's case" or when "the state court either unreasonably extends a legal principle from [Supreme Court] precedent to a new context where it should not apply or unreasonably refuses to extend that principle to a new context where it should apply." Jury from giving effect to his mitigating evidence in capital trials can not be gainsaid, TV celebrity. Assistant medical examiner 's testimony in particular as follows: state habeas court that. Clear, binding precedent forecloses relief on Cantu 's jury from giving effect to his evidence! Today Sadly, they never made it a rational jury would have been fruitless Sadly, they made! Regard was not contrary to, or an unreasonable application of, federal law and stealing the... 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Sorry! 2003); Medellin v. Cockrell, No. 1992), aff'd 506 U.S. 461 (1993), outlined a "constitutional-relevancy test" that it would apply to all capital trials where the jury received no directive to consider mitigating evidence.
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