Double death row execution today including serial killer on death row 50 years

28 February 2024 , 03:00

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Death row inmate Ivan Cantu is set to be executed tonight as celebs and Catholic groups make a last plea (Image: Texas Department of Criminal Jus)

Texas has scheduled the execution of Ivan Cantu for Wednesday despite Kim Kardashian taking up the inmate's case - even if she made an error posting the wrong photo.

Ivan Cantu shot and killed his cousin and a 21-year-old woman, as well as stole jewelry and a car, according to the state. According to Cantu, Kim Kardashian, and a variety of social justice groups - the case merits a second look by a judge.

Cantu is scheduled to be put to death alongside another inmate who has been on death row for 50 years. Thomas Eugene Creech of Idaho is also getting the death penalty tonight, after a conviction for the murder of David Jensen, a young disabled man serving time for car theft.

READ MORE: Kim Kardashian issues urgent plea to fans as she tries to save man from execution

Ivan Cantu insists he didn't commit the murder (Texas Department of Criminal Jus)

Martin Sheen and Kim Kardashian are among a number of celebs to take up Cantu's case (Texas Department of Criminal Jus)

This was the final act in a long line of destruction that resulted in five murder convictions across three states for Creech. In addition to these crimes, he is suspected of being responsible for at least six more. Now, at the age 73, one of America's longest-serving death row inmates will face execution by lethal injection. He was convicted for the gruesome murder of a fellow prisoner with a battery-filled sock back in 1981.

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Yet, Cheech and Cantu have something in common - their lawyers have been trying to file motions to stop these executions. Earlier on Tuesday, the reality TV star shared an image of who she thought was Ivan Cantu, facing execution in Texas. He's been on death row since 2001, and his story is making headlines around the world, but Kim might have just caused some confusion.

Kardashian actually shared an image of a 60-year-old businessman from New York with the same name in front of her 364 million followers. Understandably freaked out, A. Cantu (of New York) instantly assumed he was being pranked.

Kim's post was quickly removed, but she then replaced it with a campaign aimed at Texas Governor Greg Abbott to delay the real Ivan's execution. Kim is training to be a lawyer and is passionate about criminal justice, in the footsteps of her late father Robert Kardashian. But Kim is part of a growing contingent that's been speaking out for Cantu.

Kim Kardashian posted Cantu's story online (kimkardashian/Instagram)

Other groups have also tried to get Texas Governor Abbot's attention with Cantu's case (kimkardashian/Instagram)

The Catholic group against the death penalty, Catholics Mobilizing Network (CMN), is asking people on its website to "contact Gov. [Greg] Abbott and the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles" to stop the execution. "Newly discovered evidence - which was not heard by the jury and has never been considered by any court - casts significant doubt on Ivan's conviction," the group says.

"Some of the jurors who voted to sentence Ivan to death have since called for this evidence to be reviewed, declaring that they are disturbed by the prospect they heard false and misleading testimony during the trial," CMN says.

The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals dismissed Cantu's hearing request in 2023. His lawyers have argued since then that he should get a new trial because the main witness at his first trial was unreliable.

Cantu also has support from the Texas Catholic Conference of Bishops. Last year after Cantu's execution was delayed, the bishops said they were "grateful [that] a judge has shown mercy to Ivan Cantu" by canceling the previous execution date, initially set for April 2023.

Cantu, 50, is to be executed on February 28, 2023, for a double murder he insists he did not commit (Texas Department of Criminal Jus)

Kim first talked about his case on January 26 after Sister Helen Prejean told her about it. She thought it was important and said on social media: "I heard about Ivan Cantu's case from Sister Helen Prejean and was really moved by it. [...] The time to act to save Ivan Cantu is now!"

In a last-ditch effort to prevent the execution, attorneys for Cheech have filed a flurry of appeals in four different courts in recent months. Their arguments revolve around Idaho's refusal to disclose the source of its execution drug and claims that Creech received ineffective legal counsel.

However, their appeal was rejected by a three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Friday. They argued against Creech's execution since he was sentenced by a judge rather than a jury. There is uncertainty about how many people Ohio-native Creech had killed before starting his prison sentence in Idaho in 1974.

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While he claimed to have taken the lives of up to 50 people, these confessions are considered unreliable as they were made under the influence of dubious "truth serum" drugs and contained wild stories involving occult rituals and contract killing for a prominent motorcycle gang.

Yelena Mandenberg