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30 January 2007
Chron tries to keep Ruben Cantu story alive
The Chronicle's efforts to win that elusive first Pulitzer via the Ruben Cantu story have stalled somewhat, but the local Hearst daily just keeps plugging along in its efforts to keep the story alive:
Sam Millsap Jr. knows that most people in his home state disagree with his fervent opposition to the death penalty, but the former Bexar County district attorney remains puzzled by a particular expression of sympathy he gets from many of his fellow Texans.
They frequently admonish him not to beat himself up over the execution of Ruben Cantu, a potentially innocent man Millsap helped send to the death chamber.
And why is Cantu potentially innocent? The story elaborates:
Ruben Cantu, a gang member convicted of a robbery-related murder when he was 18, was executed on Aug. 24, 1993. In 2005, a Chronicle investigation suggested that Cantu was possibly innocent.
Here is some background on the Ruben Cantu story that should make clear his "innocence" is hardly a decided question. It's also useful when evaluating the Chronicle's death-penalty stories to keep in mind the Chronicle's fervent anti-death-penalty stance and the fact that editor Jeff Cohen's wife is a noted anti-death-penalty activist.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ Ruben Cantu story alive"> 01/30/07 11:07 PM | Houston Chronicle | Technorati | Comments (7)
20 February 2007
Air continues to go out of Ruben Cantu story
The Chronicle's hopes of winning that elusive first Pulitzer via the Victor Cantu story continue to dwindle.
Here's the latest from Lise Olsen (and Maro Robbins) on what was once thought to be the Pulitzer beat:
Once the star witness in a capital murder case, Juan Moreno is convinced that his testimony sent the wrong man to the execution chamber, but he's having trouble convincing others.
Memory lapses and apparent contradictions emerged as Moreno, a San Antonio construction worker, told Bexar County prosecutors this month that he buckled to police pressure and falsely accused a San Antonio teenager named Ruben Cantu of murder in 1985.
The Feb. 8 interview is among the final tasks in the district attorney's yearlong examination of claims that Cantu was wrongly executed in 1993 for the robbery murder of Moreno's friend, Pedro Gomez. More than four hours of questioning left prosecutors more skeptical than ever.
When asked later by reporters if he still believed Cantu was innocent, Moreno hesitated at first. A few minutes later, he insisted: "I've always known he was innocent."
Moreno had not spoken publicly since November 2005 because he had been threatened with prosecution for potentially perjuring himself at Cantu's original trial.
Moreno's own lawyer doubted the eyewitness account would be enough to conclusively establish Cantu's case as the nation's first undisputed example of an innocent man's execution. Later, Cliff Herberg, a supervisor in the district attorney's office, said it appears Moreno doesn't remember much of what happened.
"At this point, he is just spouting back the misinformation (and) lies that have been fed to him by the anti-death-penalty people," Herberg said.
Credit goes to the Chronicle for reporting the facts in this latest story, even though they cast further doubts on Moreno's reliability as a witness (and the Chronicle's efforts to win a Pulitzer by "proving" an innocent man was executed in Texas). While it is possible mistakes were made in this case, activists are going to have to produce more substantive evidence than they have so far in the Cantu affair.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ Ruben Cantu story"> 02/20/07 11:26 PM | Houston Chronicle | Technorati | Comments (0)
14 March 2006
Nothing like that Chron firewall between opinion and reporting
That impregnable Chronicle firewall between opinion and reporting was on display in a death-penalty story today:
Nearly four months after Bexar County prosecutors promised to vigorously reinvestigate the questionable execution of Ruben Cantu, they have yet to obtain full statements from the three witnesses who claim he was innocent.
Just because the execution of Cantu is questioned by anti-death-penalty advocates and crusading Chronicle journalists does not mean that they have yet proven that the execution was questionable. Indeed, that would be the point of carrying out the investigation they have been urging.
Opinion frequently is substituted for straight reporting at the Chronicle when it comes to the death penalty. This is but one of many examples, unfortunately.
PREVIOUSLY: Chron pushes death-penalty case hard in leadup to Thanksgiving, A busy death-penalty week for the Chronicle.
GREATEST HITS: Chron eye for the death row killer guy.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 03/14/06 11:01 PM | Houston Chronicle | Technorati | Comments (9)
27 November 2005
Chron pushes death penalty case hard in leadup to Thanksgiving
The anti-death-penalty Chronicle pushed one of its favorite topics hard as Thanksgiving approached.
In a high-profile story, Lise Olsen concluded that an innocent man had been put to death courtesy of the Texas death penalty:
Texas executed its fifth teenage offender at 22 minutes after midnight on Aug. 24, 1993, after his last request for bubble gum had been refused and his final claim of innocence had been forever silenced.
Ruben Cantu, 17 at the time of his crime, had no previous convictions, but a San Antonio prosecutor had branded him a violent thief, gang member and murderer who ruthlessly shot one victim nine times with a rifle before emptying at least nine more rounds into the only eyewitness — a man who barely survived to testify.
Four days after a Bexar County jury delivered its verdict, Cantu wrote this letter to the residents of San Antonio: "My name is Ruben M. Cantu and I am only 18 years old. I got to the 9th grade and I have been framed in a capital murder case."
A dozen years after his execution, a Houston Chronicle investigation suggests that Cantu, a former special-ed student who grew up in a tough neighborhood on the south side of San Antonio, was likely telling the truth.
As Sedosi Alhambra pointed out, the story was decidedly unbalanced:
The story ... is curiously short on the opinions of those with an opposing view. There is, of course, the silly symbolism that the Chron is rapidly becoming known for (Cantu was refused bubble gum, etc.) but very little examination of FACTS in this case.
Most of the reporting is based on opinion and conjecture. You will read a lot of "I think" and "I could see where" etc. It is, of course, inevitable that all of the thinking and seeing leads to opinions that support the notion that Cantu was innocent.
Given the Chronicle's anti-death-penalty perspective and regular instances of the newspaper melding news and opinion, it's difficult to regard such unbalanced, one-sided reporting as definitive. The reporting at best raises questions about the case that should be examined more closely.
Nevertheless, the Chronicle executive editorial leadership apparently does see it as definitive. Here's the conclusion from the anti-death-penalty editorial board several days later:
An investigation of Cantu's conviction by the Chronicle's Lise Olsen provides persuasive evidence that his execution by the state was a mistake.
The reporting doesn't seem that definitive. The Chronicle editorial leadership certainly wants it to be definitive, although the newspaper's perspective on this topic not to mention its melding of news and opinion suggests that study by more objective analysts is merited before final judgment is rendered.
Speaking of the melding of news and opinion, here's the opinion of Rick Casey, the editorialist/gossip columnist who appears on the news pages:
On the rare occasion, and this appears to be one, when very strong new evidence indicates an innocent person may have been executed, an independent court or some other body should determine the outcome.
We agree with Casey in a sense. We don't think of the Chronicle as an especially independent voice on the death penalty. Still, a broken clock is right twice a day. So we'll be awaiting independent confirmation of the perspective presented by Olsen, Casey, and the Chronicle editorial board, and will be happy to revisit the matter if there is such confirmation.
UPDATE: Olsen has some experience elsewhere in death-penalty journalism, and she has also helped out locally with the Chron Eye.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 11/27/05 11:57 PM | Houston Chronicle | Technorati | Comments (0)
07 November 2006
Cantu developments put Pulitzer celebration on hold
Roughly a year ago, the Chronicle's Lise Olsen excitedly concluded that an innocent man had been executed in Texas.
The anti-death-penalty newspaper's editors and executives were, no doubt, looking forward to the newspaper's first ever Pulitzer, which was sure to come after this big story on a pet issue! And a certain editor's spouse was probably excited as well.
Alas, the quest for that Pulitzer has suffered somewhat of a setback:
A private investigator searching for proof that might exonerate a San Antonio man executed 13 years ago gave nearly $2,000 in cash, meals and small gifts to key witnesses who say the man was innocent.
Most of the money, $1,496, was directed toward Juan Moreno, the shooting victim whose testimony almost single-handedly convicted Ruben Cantu in 1985 and whose recantation is the centerpiece of a campaign to clear Cantu's name.
Moreno and his wife were compensated primarily for lost wages when they missed work to meet with the investigator, who was working with the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund.
The authors of the story go on to explain that some people think the payments are perfectly ethical, and no big deal. The tone of this story, however, is certainly more glum than the tone of the story from a year ago. The Pulitzer celebration will have to be postponed, or perhaps even canceled.
BLOGVERSATION: Cigars, Donuts, and Coffee.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ Cantu developments put Pulitzer celebration on hold"> 11/07/06 09:36 PM | Houston Chronicle | Technorati | Comments (3)
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