Ivan Cantu execution: Growing claims executed Texas murderer was innocent after three jurors who convicted him conceded there were 'holes' in case

Questions are mounting over the execution of a convicted killer on Wednesday night in Texas who maintained his innocence until his dying breath. 

Ivan Cantu, a 50-year-old Dallas man convicted over the slaying of his cousin and his cousin's fiancé in 2000, won support from celebrities, politicians and even some of the jury that sentenced him to death with his cries of innocence. 

The damning evidence that put him on death row has been placed in doubt, including testimony from his girlfriend's brother about the murder plot that he admitted in 2022 was a lie. 

After he was executed by lethal injection in Huntsville last night, Kim Kardashian led backlash as she stressed Cantu was an 'innocent man' - with others arguing the abundance of doubt in his case should have afforded him at least a retrial.

Ivan Cantu, a 50-year-old Dallas man convicted over the slaying of his cousin and his cousin's fiancé in 2000, won support from celebrities, politicians and even some of the jury that sentenced him to death with his cries of innocence

Cantu was convicted in 2001 over the murders of his cousin James Mosqueda, 27, a drug dealer, and Mosqueda's fiancé Amy Kitchen, 22, (pictured together) in their home in North Dallas in November 2000

Some evidence presented at trial has been called into question, including blood-spattered jeans that testing in 2009 failed to conclusively find Cantu's DNA 

Cantu was convicted in 2001 over the murders of his cousin James Mosqueda, 27, a drug dealer, and Mosqueda's fiancé Amy Kitchen, 22, in their home in North Dallas in November 2000. 

According to prosecutors, Cantu shot the couple dead as he ransacked their home, stealing cocaine, marijuana and cash from Mosqueda. 

Cantu has maintained that one of Mosqueda's rival drug dealers murdered the two, and claimed in his final court filing a week before his execution that 'new evidence' identified the man he believes is responsible. 

Cantu's insistence that he only knew of the man by the moniker 'Matt from the Valley' led prosecutors to successfully argue he fabricated the story. 

The case against him was mounted on testimony from Cantu's girlfriend, Amy Boettcher, who made several claims that have since been called into question. 

She told a jury that Cantu stole and hid Mosqueda's Rolex watch during the murders, before his attorney said the watch was later found by the victim's family - and was pictured by private investigator Matt Duff as he looked into the case years later. 

Duff, who released podcast 'Cousins by Blood' about his investigation, also pictured blood-stained jeans that Boettcher testified were disposed of by Cantu on the night of the slayings. 

However, his attorneys say a police officer who scoured the apartment the next day didn't find the clothes, which were only discovered at a later date, and DNA testing in 2009 couldn't conclusively say if Cantu's DNA was on the jeans. 

The Texas Tribune reported that a cop who inspected Cantu's apartment shortly after the murders signed a sworn affidavit in 2020 insisting she did not believe the bloody jeans were in the apartment when she went to carry out a welfare check at the request of his mother.  

The jeans were also found to be two sizes too large, and the cop who made the search testified that she was sure she would have seen them during a sweep of the apartment.  

Boettcher, who has since passed away also faced allegations of perjury as she claimed that Cantu proposed to her on the night of the murders, despite witnesses allegedly noting the couple had announced their engagement and displayed the ring weeks before the killings, per the Washington Post. 

Much of the case against Cantu (left) hinged on the testimony of his girlfriend at the time of the murders, Amy Boettcher (right), who has since passed away 

While not all of Cantu's supporters say they believe his cries of innocence, many have argued the abundance of doubt means his conviction was unsound. 

'I can’t say for sure that he’s innocent - but I can’t say for sure that he’s guilty,' Abraham Bonowitz, head of anti-death penalty organization Death Penalty Action, reportedly said at a vigil following Cantu's execution on Wednesday.

'There's just too much doubt.' 

One of the issues fueling this doubt was testimony from Boettcher's brother Jeff, who told the jury that Cantu told him of his plans to kill Mosqueda. 

But in 2022, he admitted to a district attorney investigator that he lied, and Cantu's final court filing claims that he was 'a drug addict at the time who testified to his willingness to do anything to protect his sister because they were 'in it together.' 

Attorneys claim this should have been tantamount to a denial of due process, a similar claim made against Cantu's court appointed public defender in his 2001 trial. 

His lawyer decided not to present any counter evidence or call any witnesses at his trial, a potential strategy to plead down lesser offenses that backfired as he was slapped with the death penalty. 

One of his defense attorneys, Matt Goeller, who has reportedly since had his law license in Texas revoked, also faced scrutiny for his decision to admit Cantu's guilt in his final argument. 

'I didn't say he was innocent. I said he's not guilty of capital murder,' Goeller said, according to Houston Public Media. 

Cantu has faced mounting calls for a retrial to re-examine the evidence against him, as supporters insist there is 'too much doubt' in his case for it to reach the death penalty 

Notably, prosecutors have maintained their stance that Cantu was the murderer, and Collin County District Attorney Greg Willis shared six pieces of 'clear and powerful evidence' on X after Wednesday's execution. 

Among the evidence was Cantu's fingerprints on the magazine of the murder weapon, that was later found at Boettcher's apartment. 

One of the victim's DNA was also found on the gun, with one of the victim's keys also found inside Cantu's apartment.

A bullet was also found embedded in Cantu's wall that matched the murder weapon, and a victim's bracelet was also found inside Boettcher's family home in Arkansas. 

But many appear unconvinced by the 'evidence', as people responded to Willis that officials 'failed this man', as he 'didn't get a fair trial' while numerous further motions were dismissed. 

'Well done for killing an innocent man. I trust you all sleep well tonight,' added another. 

Leading the public charge for Cantu to be exonerated before he was executed was Kim Kardashian, who picked up Cantu's case as part of her fight for clemency for dozens of inmates across America. 

Before the trial, Kardashian pointed her huge following to Texas Governor Greg Abbott, calling them to 'urge him to use his power to allow time for new evidence in Ivan's case to be evaluated, lest Texas execute a wrongfully convicted man.' 

Officials faced backlash after Cantu's execution on Wednesday, as the public hit out at them for potentially killing an 'innocent man' 

However, while Cantu counted other supporters including actor Martin Sheen, perhaps the most convincing calls for a retrial came from the jurors that convicted him over two decades before his execution. 

One of the jurors, Montra Marie Biggs, said in April 2023 she is still 'disturbed' by the case to this day and is haunted by the possibility she convicted an innocent man. 

'I am disturbed by the possibility that false testimony and evidence was presented to me and the other jurors at trial,' she said.

'As a juror who served in this case, I do not want to see Mr. Cantu executed without getting a full hearing on this new information.'