Texas man who long claimed innocence is executed for the slayings of 2, including cousin

HUNTSVILLE, Texas — A Texas man who had long claimed his conviction more than 20 years ago was based on false testimony and questionable evidence was executed Wednesday for fatally shooting two people, including his cousin. The Texas execution proceeded hours after Cantu’s attorney, Gena Bunn, said she would not make a final appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court for lack of “a viable path” for the high court’s consideration of the case. But Bunn had written in Cantu’s clemency application that new evidence “impugns the integrity of the State’s case for guilt and raises the specter that the State of Texas could execute an innocent man.” In Cantu’s apartment, police found bloody jeans with the victims’ DNA and a key to the victims’ home. The defense attorney also said new witness statements also helped confirm Cantu’s claim that a man who had supplied drugs to Mosqueda had threatened the cousin days before the killings. Duff has chronicled his findings in a podcast called “Cousins By Blood.” Of the new evidence presented by Cantu, Willis’ office had said “none of it destroys the cornerstones of the State’s case.” The next execution in Texas, which has been the nation’s busiest capital punishment state, is not scheduled until June 26.