HOUSTON (AP) – A federal appeals court has rejected an appeal from a Dallas man on death row for fatally shooting his cousin during a robbery 16 years ago where a second person also was killed.
The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Monday for a second time turned down arguments from prisoner Ivan Cantu that his legal help at his 2001 trial was deficient for failing to investigate and present evidence Cantu was innocent.
Cantu was convicted of killing 27-year-old James Mosqueda and was indicted for the death of Mosqueda’s girlfriend, 22-year-old Amy Kitchen. The two were shot at Mosqueda’s Collin County home in north Dallas.
Mosqueda’s Corvette was taken and found outside Cantu’s apartment. Evidence showed he took Kitchen’s engagement ring and gave it to his own girlfriend.
