Kim Kardashian is urging her 75 million social media followers to sign a petition demanding that Texas death row inmate Ivan Cantu's upcoming execution be halted.
Cantu, who has maintained his innocence for more than two decades, is scheduled to be executed by lethal injection on February 28 for the 2000 murder of his cousin James Mosqueda and Mosqueda's fiancée, Amy Kitchen. Cantu, who was 28 at the time of the killings, was convicted in 2001 and sentenced to death. Cantu says that a rival drug dealer framed him for the murders.
"Ivan has 5 days to live," Kardashian wrote in a post on X (formerly Twitter) on Friday. "Please sign the petition to demand that Collin County DA Greg Willis request to withdraw the execution date."
A Move On petition demanding that Willis withdraw the execution date in the wake of new evidence that was disclosed by his own office has amassed over 100,000 signatures as of Friday afternoon. Willis has said that he's "fully convinced that Ivan Cantu brutally murdered" Mosqueda and Kitchen.
"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," the district attorney said in a statement.
"Recent vigorous investigation into Ivan's case has uncovered serious exculpatory evidence that was suppressed or manipulated at trial by state officials," the petition reads.
"Additionally, key state witnesses have recanted their testimony and, in light of these findings, three trial jurors have stated that had they known of these wrongdoings at trial, they very possibly would have rendered a different verdict," the petition says.
In the years since Cantu's conviction, his attorney Gena Bunn has said there is new evidence that she believes discredits the testimony of the main witness in the case, Cantu's ex-fiancée, but no court has agreed to review the new information.
Cantu's execution was paused by Collin County District Judge Benjamin Smith just seven days before it was scheduled last year after a last-minute appeal. But the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals rejected a request for an evidentiary hearing four months later.
Kardashian said she first learned of Cantu's case from Sister Helen Prejean, the Catholic nun and anti-death-penalty advocate, and became "really moved by it." In January, she asked for people to write to Texas' Conviction Integrity Unit about Cantu. Martin Sheen and Jane Fonda have also called for his sentence to be revisited.
"Everyone deserves a fair trial. We want the judicial system to scrutinize the new evidence in Ivan's case that exposes fraudulent testimony and wrongdoing by state witnesses and law enforcement," the Move On petition says.
"The Collin County Criminal District Attorney's office says that their mission is 'not to convict, but to see that justice is done,'" the petition continues. "Justice has yet to be delivered in Ivan's case. All we are asking is for the execution to be delayed and an inquiry into new evidence to be opened."
Update 2/23/24, 1:30 p.m. ET: This story was updated with more information and background.
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Katherine Fung is a Newsweek reporter based in New York City. Her focus is reporting on U.S. and world politics. ... Read more
