While Jenny and Elizabeth were living the last few hours of their lives, Peter Cantu, Efrain Perez, Derrick Sean O'Brien, Joe Medellin and Joe's 14 year old brother were initiating a new member, Raul Villareal, into their gang, known as the Black and Whites. After the Penry I decision in 1989, Texas did not hold a regular legislative session until 1991. Im not sure who else has brought attention to it. He raped Jennifer and was later sentenced to 40 years for aggravated sexual assault, which was the maximum sentence for a juvenile. See Buchanan v. Angelone, 522 U.S. 269, 276 (1998); Boyde v. California, 494 U.S. 370, 377 (1990). After being informed of and waiving his constitutional rights, Cantu provided two written statements. No mercy for the bastard. When the rapes finally ended, the horror was not over. Respondent assumes that Texas' bifurcated system (that was not present in Beck) allows a jury to give effect to any lingering doubt about guilt by delivering a capital conviction but a life sentence, avoiding Beck's all-or-nothing conundrum. Texas, Houston Division. Cantu, Jos Medelln, and Prez then strangled Pea to death with shoelaces. While the disturbing photographs probably unsettled the jurors, the state courts would not be unreasonable in finding that the complex and textured case against Cantu was not unconstitutionally tainted by the material. In other words, there is a vast asymmetry in the punishments to be imposed, all because of nothing more substantive than a few weeks variation in birth dates. The admissibility of evidence is generally a matter of state evidentiary law. WebThe State of Texas charged Cantu with the capital murder of Jennifer Ertman during a kidnapping, robbery, or aggravated sexual assault. Hiding. 22 at 569-72. Trial counsel compared the possible fate of his client to the death of the two victims. In 1972, the Supreme Court in Furman v. Georgia, 408 U.S. 238 (1972), condemned death penalty statutes that gave the sentencer open-ended discretion. Under Texas law, a defendant is entitled to a lesser-included-offense instruction only if the lesser crime is within the proof necessary to establish the charged offense. See, e.g, Brewer v. Quarterman, ___ U.S. ___, 127 S. Ct. 1706, 1713-14 (2007); Abdul-Kabir v. Quarterman, ___ U.S. ___, 127 S. Ct. 1654, 1664-75 (2007); Nelson v. Quarterman, 472 F.3d 287, 292-314 (5th Cir. Entry No. 2005); O'Brien v. Dretke, 4:02-CV-1865 (S.D. This one has always stuck with me, to an insane degree. 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." The punishment phase evidence showed Cantu to be a violent young man, though the murders were of previosuly unknown level of violence. The Ertmans were ecstatic at the birth of their child because they were not sure if they would ever be able to conceive, since Sandra was on the wrong side of thirty-five. Vol. The murder of Ertman and Pena made headlines all over Texas due to the heinous nature of the crime along with the new law that was put in place that allowed the families of the victims to view the execution of the murderers. Entry No. Id. Insect activity, animal degradation, and the sweltering heat left the corpses unrecognizable. Cantu's attorneys adduced testimony that supported the first two propositions. Structural Error in Texas' Mitigation Special Issue. Clerk's Record at 278. Officer Swainson "[a]sked him if he [would] like to continue, put it in writing. Woodford v. Garceau, 538 U.S. 202, 206 (2003) (quotation and citation omitted). See 28 U.S.C. State Habeas Record at 259. He is not an eighteen year old child that didn't know what he was doing." 24 at 966-67. This Court must decide whether, in light of the whole evidentiary picture, a rational juror would have acquitted the defendant of capital murder and found him guilty of another offense. State Habeas Record at 203. 24 at 944. Tex. Id. 37.071 2(f)(4). 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. Venancio Medelln, the brother of Jos Medelln, was 14 at the time of the murder, the same age as Jennifer Ertman. It's his choice. 22 at 395. In Beck v. Alabama, 447 U.S. 625 (1980), the Supreme Court overturned a death sentence because the trial evidence allowed for the possibility of a non-capital conviction but the jury instructions placed the defendant in an all-or-nothing conundrum: if the jury thought he was guilty merely of a lesser offense, then they could only sentence him to death or acquit him. Nonetheless, it acknowledges that the United States Constitution does not require the prosecution to use the least-disturbing material available. Vol. June 25, 1994: Family and friends of Jennifer Ertman and Elizabeth Pena gather at T.C. At trial, Officer Swainson testified that, "[b]ased on the statements that [they] had obtained, it appeared as if maybe there was a possibility [Cantu] didn't reveal his total involvement." PROC. 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. No clearly established Supreme Court precedent calls the Texas statute into question. See 28 U.S.C. Regardless of whether a rational jury would disbelieve Cantu's second statement, nothing in the record supports a lesser-included-offense instruction for simple murder. Vol. The images were so Because the Fifth Circuit, however, has avoided ruling on this argument, see Foster v. Dretke, 2006 WL 616980 (5th Cir. Vol. due process plainly requires that [the defendant] be allowed to bring [parole ineligibility] to the jury's attention by way of argument by defense counsel or an instruction from the court." Tennard, 542 U.S. at 284-85. Vol. Vol. Tr. He extended his violent acts into the prison setting. Id. This Court cannot issue the writ unless the error "ha[d] a `substantial and injurious effect or influence in determining the jury's verdict.'" 21 at 324-27. 24 at 854. Cantu later gave Venancio Medellin a watch that belonged to Ms. Ertman. Vol. Peter Anthony Cantu ("Cantu"), a Texas inmate, seeks federal habeas corpus relief. This location was approximately one mile from Pea's home. "Congress enacted AEDPA to reduce delays in the execution of state and federal criminal sentences, particularly in capital cases, and to further the principles of comity, finality, and federalism[.]" Both girls were sexually assaulted by all but one of the gang members, 14-year-old Venancio "Yuni" Medelln, on a minimum of four occasions. No death, but it was a year before columbine. The gang continued drinking and 'shooting the breeze' for some time and then decided to leave. Id. TEX. But if something like this cant spark it, what can? The State called police officers whose testimony did not reveal any constitutional or statutory violation in the taking of Cantu's statements. Cantu alleges that the prosecutors comments were unconstitutional because "the prosecuting attorney made reference to the photographs in his closing only to emphasize the horror of death and decay[.]" [7] Before the murders, Houston officials had stated that gangs were not a significant issue in the city. See Alexander v. Johnson, 211 F.3d 895, 898 (5th Cir. . WebThe graves of Jennifer Ertman and Elizabeth Pena are about 200 yards apart in Woodlawn Garden of Memories Cemetery. Happy Halloween! WebMost of the soft tissue on Jennifer Ertmans head and the external portion of her vagina was eaten by maggots, indicating that there was trauma, hemorrhaging and bleeding. Lockett v. Ohio, 438 U.S. 586, 604 (1978) (plurality opinion); see also Eddings v. Oklahoma, 455 U.S. 104, 114-15 (1982). State Habeas Record at 260. 21 at 299-300. Tigner v. Cockrell, 264 F.3d 521, 525 (5th Cir. Vol. See Tr. Tr. The Fifth Circuit's interpretation of the Beck standard does not look at the evidence in a selective manner; "[t]he issue here is whether a rational juror, given all the facts, could have acquitted [a petitioner] of capital murder and convicted him of a lesser included offense." Pea brushed aside Medelln's hand and continued walking. See Horn v. Banks, 536 U.S. 266, 272 (2002) (remarking that no Supreme Court case "ha[s] suggested that a writ of habeas corpus should automatically issue if a prisoner satisfies the AEDPA standard[. On June 24, 1993, Jennifer Ertman and Elizabeth Pea attended a pool party hosted by their friend, Gina Escamilla. In particular, Cantu alleges that "[a]t least two of [his] co-defendants were afforded in separate trials, the benefit of an instruction like the one Cantu was denied." Vol. O'Brien (the only non-Hispanic in the gang) and Villarreal then proceeded to strangle Ertman with a red nylon belt before the belt broke. . 2001) (citing Simmons, 512 U.S. at 168 n. 8). 22 at 455. 2001). This federal habeas action follows. Is there something we can do to bring more attention to this situation? Jose Medellin discontinued his narrative to bathe. 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." WebJennifer Ertman, 14, and Elizabeth Pena, 16, were raped, tortured and murdered by gang members while walking near TC Jester on June 24, 1993. I'm going to show up to his parole. 2 at 13.) TEX. 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. See 28 U.S.C. Cantu additionally complains that, because other capital inmates including some of his co-perpetrators have had trials wherein the jury received information about parole eligibility, various constitutional theories including the Equal Protection Clause entitled him to that information also (claims four through six). Very well done. While flesh remained elsewhere, no skin remained on either girl's skull by the time the police recovered the bodies. The break in solving the case came from, of course, the 911 call. I was in a tree. Franklin v. Lynaugh, 487 U.S. 164, 181 (1988) (plurality opinion). See 28 U.S.C. Darden v. Wainwright, 477 U.S. 168, 181 (1986) (quoting Donnelly v. DeChristoforo, 416 U.S. 637, 643 (1974)). The trial court initially prevented the defense only from claiming that "if [Cantu] receives a life sentence he will spend the rest of his life in prison and never be released on parole." 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." Donald R. Davis and Robert Morrow represented Cantu at trial. 28 at 664. Cantu's first six claims challenge the trial court's refusal to inform his jury about Texas parole law. Under the Strickland standard, a criminal defendant's Sixth Amendment rights are "denied when a defense attorney's performance falls below an objective standard of reasonableness and thereby prejudices the defense." Respondent has filed a motion for summary judgment arguing that Cantu's claims do not merit federal habeas corpus relief. He hurt my friends and I didn't know and I cry a lot about not knowing. Both then completed the act by strangling the girl with a shoelace in Pea's presence. The murder of Jennifer Ertman and Elizabeth Pea, two teenage girls from Houston, Texas, occurred on June 24, 1993.The murder of the two girls made headlines in Texas newspapers due to the nature of the crime and the new law resulting from the murder that allows families of the victims to view the execution of the murderers.. 1988) (emphasis added); see also Ransom v. Johnson, 126 F.3d 716, 726 (5th Cir. WebJennifer Ertman and Elizabeth Pea were two best friends who, in 1993, were raped and murdered by a gang as they walked home from a pool party. They were last seen by friends about 11:15 at night, when they left a friend's apartment to head home, to beat summer curfew at 11:30. 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." Vol. 1999) ("Relief based on Simmons is foreclosed by Teague."). 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. 2002); Rudd v. Johnson, 256 F.3d 317, 320 (5th Cir. Fellow gang member Roman Sandoval described how the gang members encountered the two girls and dragged them off to be raped. (Doc. 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." They were laughing and bragging about it." Trial counsel sought a favorable answer to the future dangerousness special issue by showing that: (1) Cantu would not be dangerous while incarcerated; (2) with the passage of time he would mature and become less violent; and (3) when he became eligible for parole after 35 years he would not pose a threat to society. 21 at 294, Vol. They were friends who attended the same high school in Houston, Texas, Waltrip High School. Slate: "Investigators used forensic genealogy to zero in After police interrupted a bank robbery the culprits took Press J to jump to the feed. This means that the new member was required to fight every member of the gang until he passed out and then he would be accepted as a member. Khng ch Nht Bn, Umeken c ton th gii cng nhn trong vic n lc s dng cc thnh phn tt nht t thin nhin, pht trin thnh cc sn phm chm sc sc khe cht lng kt hp gia k thut hin i v tinh thn ngh nhn Nht Bn. 23 at 699-703. They had spent the evening drinking beer and then "jumping in" Raul. Here, this inquiry focuses not only on the inflammatory nature of the images but on their importance at trial. Tr. Under Respondent's reasoning, the separation of the conviction and sentencing decisions in Texas' capital punishment scheme diffuse the core concern of Beck: that a jury will impose a death sentence fearing that they would free a man guilty of a lesser crime. Tr. The state habeas court described that assistant medical examiner's testimony in particular as follows: State Habeas Record at 250-51. See Horn, 536 U.S. at 272 (relying on Teague v. Lane, 489 U.S. 288 (1989)). Vol. Texas law, however, then prohibited any information about potential parole eligibility from coming before the jury. Peter Anthony Cantu, Jos Ernesto Medelln, Derrick Sean O'Brien, Efrain Prez, and Raul Omar Villarreal received death sentences. The Court must decide whether "there is a reasonable likelihood that the jury has applied the challenged instruction in a way that prevents the consideration of constitutionally relevant evidence." 'You're not even an animal,' in the courtroom of Judge Bill Harmon, on Wednesday, Feb. 9, 1994, When the Supreme Court of the United States banned the executions of people who committed crimes while they were below 18 years of age, the sentences of Prez and Villarreal were automatically commuted to life in prison. Cantu's Beck claim depends on the jury believing that his first statement represented the only valid account of the crime, to the exclusion of his second statement and all additional trial testimony. Cantu does not raise a separate claim that the Due Process Clause prohibited the introduction of the allegedly inflammatory photographs and video. Riley v. Cockrell, 339 F.3d 308, 316 (5th Cir. 2254(d)(1). The prosecution introduced the allegedly inflammatory material while explaining the condition of the corpses, describing the process by which the police identified the girls' bodies, and verifying the statements made by Cantu and others. Medelln reported that he had killed a girl, and noted that he would have found it easier with a gun. As Cantu accurately argues, the question is not whether "[t]he evidence was clearly sufficient to establish that [the defendant] participated in the murder," but "whether the evidence would permit a reasonable jury to make a contrary finding[.]" On the basis of those and other statements, O'Brien claimed on federal habeas review that the prosecutorial actions imposed the defunct constitutional relevancy test on the jury. 2000); Hughes v. Johnson, 191 F.3d 607, 617 (5th Cir. 487K views 2 years ago. Seventeen years after the crimes, Peter Anthony Cantu was executed on August 17, 2010. His initial statement, however, he claimed that he did not join the other gang members as they murdered the two girls in the woods. See Franklin, 487 U.S. at 179. (Doc. See Schriro v. Landrigan, ___ U.S. ___, 127 S. Ct. 1933, 1954 (2007); South Carolina v. Gathers, 490 U.S. 805, 818 (1984). 1997). Tr. 24 at 942. As an integral component of the Fifth Circuit's test, a defendant had to demonstrate a "nexus" between the mitigating evidence and the special issues. Long v. State, 823 S.W.2d 259, 272 (Tex.Crim.App. With respect to the lesser offenses of kidnapping or sexual assault, Cantu's depends on the jury viewing significant evidence with a heavy dose of skepticism. 22 at 452-53. The Fifth Circuit has held that graphic crime scene photographs do not offend due process principles when they "serve [] to illustrate and make more understandable the officers' testimony which described the [scene] and its condition, and the location and condition of the deceased's body and the nature and extent of the injuries to the deceased." Umeken ni ting v k thut bo ch dng vin hon phng php c cp bng sng ch, m bo c th hp th sn phm mt cch trn vn nht. "Sau mt thi gian 2 thng s dng sn phm th mnh thy da ca mnh chuyn bin r rt nht l nhng np nhn C Nguyn Th Thy Hngchia s: "Beta Glucan, mnh thy n ging nh l ng hnh, n cho mnh c ci trong n ung ci Ch Trn Vn Tnchia s: "a con gi ca ti n ln mng coi, n pht hin thuc Beta Glucan l ti bt u ung Trn Vn Vinh: "Ti ung thuc ny ti cm thy rt tt. Accordingly, he cast his claims in the form of ineffective-assistance arguments. TEX. Tr. Put a needle in her arm and just go to sleep. 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. Tr. Given that suggestion, Cantu claims that Beck entitled the jury to consider his conviction for crimes less serious than capital murder. See Howell v. Mississippi, 543 U.S. 440, 445 (2005) (finding that similar reasoning by the Mississippi Supreme Court "finds some support in [Supreme Court] cases"); Hopkins v. Reeves, 524 U.S. 88, 98-99 (1998) (distinguishing Beck from those cases where the jury "did not have to consider the dilemma faced by Beck's jury; its alternative to death was not setting respondent free, but rather sentencing him to life imprisonment"); Schad v. Arizona, 501 U.S. 624, 646 (1991) ("Our fundamental concern in Beck was that a jury . Cantu suggests: (Doc. (Doc. On that basis, the prosecution asked the jury to assess Texas' special issues in a manner that would result in a death sentence. One of Cantu's trial attorneys provided an affidavit in state court stating that his failure to raise a due process objection at trial and on appeal was "simply an oversight[.]" Many of Cantu's criminal actions were attributable to his youth, which "result[ed] in impetuous and ill-considered actions and decisions." Vol. Cantu has not shown that the admission of the challenged material was fundamentally unfair, particularly since the trial court clearly tried to filter out any unnecessarily disturbing material. 20 at 90; Clerk's Record at 104. 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. Entry No. Failure to Make a Due Process Objection to the Allegedly Inflammatory Material. Jos Ernesto Medelln appealed his execution, saying that he had informed City of Houston and Harris County police officers that he was a Mexican citizen, and that he had been unable to confer with Mexican consular officials. Nothing in the trial testimony seriously questioned the integrity of Cantu's statements, particularly his second one in which he provided a full account of his actions. State Habeas Record at 261. 2008). "), overruled on other grounds by Tennard v. Dretke, 542 U.S. 274 (2004). The State used substantially the same language when prosecuting O'Brien for his role in the Ertman/Pena murders. http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1907733/posts, Death Penalty Case Puts Bush and Texas at Odds Over Mexicans Fate Significant jurisprudence dealt with the constitutional issues in the first category. Testimony showed that the girls' bodies were kicked and their necks were stomped on after the strangulations in order to "make sure that they were really dead.". 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