DALLAS — Ivan Cantu is down to hours.
The state of Texas will execute him Wednesday at 6 p.m. unless Governor Greg Abbott steps in. But the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals denied a stay Tuesday.
And the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles unanimously voted against Cantu on Monday, refusing to commute his sentence or recommend a 120-day reprieve. That would make any last-minute help from Abbott unlikely.
And that’s unfortunate, according to Jeff Calhoun.
He was the foreman of the jury that found Cantu guilty of capital murder in the November 2000 deaths of Cantu’s cousin, James Mosqueda, and Mosqueda’s fiancée, Amy Kitchen.
“The defendant didn’t stand much of a chance. The prosecutors just blew him away,” Calhoun remembers.
Mosqueda and Kitchen were found shot to death in their North Dallas home.
Kitchen was a nursing student.
They'd been engaged a short time when they were killed.
The jury sentenced Cantu to die in 2001. He’s been on death row ever since.
Calhoun put the experience out of his mind until a podcaster who’d been researching Cantu’s case contacted him. He told Calhoun that a witness in the trial admitted his testimony was not truthful. Calhoun believes that revelation deserves consideration.
“It was the simple fact that one of the witnesses came forward and said he was lying during his testimony, and his testimony was compelling and lent itself to the decision we made,” Calhoun said. “That’s compelling enough for me to step forward and say, we need to listen and hear the rest of this out before we go through with this.”
A judge did issue a stay in 2023, but now all appeals have been exhausted.
Calhoun says he is a supporter of Gov. Abbott, and he believes in the death penalty. But he wishes the governor would consider his vantage point.
Hollywood stars like Kim Kardashian and Martin Sheen have raised questions about Cantu’s conviction.
The governor’s office did not respond when WFAA asked if Abbott is aware of the campaign to stop the execution and if he’s weighing any evidence.
Collin County District Attorney Greg Willis said he remains “fully convinced” that Cantu committed the murders.
“My belief is anchored in the undeniable evidence presented at trial, reinforced by over two decades of exhaustive state and federal appeals post-conviction,” he said in a statement.
“It’s my firm belief that justice has been done in this case and that a Collin County jury’s verdict should be carried out on February 28th.”
Calhoun said he isn’t sure how he’ll feel if the state carries out the execution on Wednesday.
“It was my civic obligation to serve as a juror. It’s my moral obligation to speak up now,” he said.