Kim Kardashian was called out by a New York man who says she posted his picture by mistake on her Instagram Stories identifying him as a death row inmate Ivan Cantu, who he has the same first and last name as.
A New York man named Ivan A. Cantu, who works as a project manager, said in a Facebook post that he had been misidentified by the 43-year-old reality star to her platform of 364 million Instagram followers.
Ivan A. Cantu told TMZ Monday that his relatives informed him his picture was being used on her social media site. He noted that he was celebrating his 60th birthday, and thought he was being pranked.
Ivan A. Cantu told the site that he thought that a member of Kardashian’s staff posted the image by mistake.
Kardashian subsequently removed the post from her social media platform.
Kim Kardashian, 43, was called out by a New York man who says she posted his picture by mistake on her Instagram Stories identifying him as a death row inmate Ivan Cantu who he has the same name as. Pictured in Paris in January
A New York man named Ivan A. Cantu, who works as a project manager, said he had been misidentified by the reality star to her platform of 364 million Instagram followers
An opinion story from the Austin American-Statesman addressing the Cantu case was later posted on Kardashian’s feed.
Kardashian also shared with her followers a text message campaign aimed at Texas Governor Greg Abbott to delay an execution, which is currently slated for Wednesday, February 28.
Kardashian has been passionate about criminal justice and the law, as for the past few years, she has been studying to become a lawyer, following in the footsteps of her late father Robert Kardashian, who was a member of O.J. Simpson’s legal defense team in his murder trial.
She was instrumental in the 2018 prison release of Alice Marie Johnson, following a pardon from then-President Donald Trump. Johnson had been sentenced to life in prison for a nonviolent drug offense as result of her 1996 conviction in a drug trafficking ring.
A Texas judge in April of 2023 stopped Cantu’s scheduled execution, amid Cantu’s long-standing statement of his innocence, and request for further review of claims he was convicted more than 20 years ago with false testimony and questionable evidence.
Ivan Cantu had been condemned for the fatal shooting of his cousin, James Mosqueda, 27, and his cousin´s girlfriend, Amy Kitchen, 22, during a November 2000 robbery at their north Dallas home. Cantu has long claimed he is innocent.
Cantu, 50, had been set for execution April 26, 2023. But state District Judge Benjamin Smith in Collin County, where Cantu was convicted, on April 20 withdrew the execution date, saying more review is needed of the inmate´s new claims.
‘Because Mr. Cantu´s case raises troubling questions that undermine the integrity of the conviction, the court´s decision to withdraw the execution date to permit further review was the appropriate next step,’ Gena Bunn, Cantu´s attorney, said in a statement on Friday.
This photo provided by the Texas Department of Criminal Justice, shows death row inmate Ivan Cantu, who has long claimed his innocence. He is slated to be executed Wednesday
An opinion story from the Austin American-Statesman addressing the Cantu case was later posted on Kardashian’s feed
Kardashian also shared with her followers a text message campaign aimed at Texas Governor Greg Abbott to delay an execution, which is currently slated for Wednesday, February 28
Sylvia Cantu, Ivan Cantu´s mother, said she remains hopeful ‘that all of this new evidence will finally be heard in court so that Ivan can come home.’
Two of the jurors who convicted Cantu have submitted declarations stating they now have doubts about the case.
‘I do not want the execution of Mr. Cantu to be carried out unless a careful and thorough review of the evidence is conducted,’ Maurice Jacob, one the jurors, wrote in declaration from earlier this month.
Prosecutors have claimed Cantu, who was convicted in 2001, 𝓀𝒾𝓁𝓁ed Mosqueda, who dealt illegal drugs, and Kitchen as he tried to steal cocaine, marijuana and cash from his cousin´s home. Cantu has claimed a rival drug dealer 𝓀𝒾𝓁𝓁ed his cousin.
In Cantu´s apartment, police found bloody jeans with the victims´ DNA, a key to the victims´ home and a key to Kitchen´s car. Police found Cantu´s gun at his ex-girlfriend´s home. Mosqueda´s blood was found on the gun´s barrel while Cantu´s fingerprints were found on the gun´s magazine.
In a 2005 affidavit, Matthew Goeller, one of Cantu´s trial attorneys, said Cantu admitted to him ‘that he had indeed 𝓀𝒾𝓁𝓁ed Mosqueda for `ripping him off´ on a drug deal’ and that Kitchen was 𝓀𝒾𝓁𝓁ed because she was a witness.
Cantu´s then-girlfriend, Amy Boettcher, was the prosecution´s main witness. She testified Cantu told her he was going to 𝓀𝒾𝓁𝓁 Mosqueda and Kitchen and later took her back to the crime scene after the 𝓀𝒾𝓁𝓁ings.
Kardashian was instrumental in the 2018 prison release of Alice Marie Johnson, following a pardon from then-President Donald Trump. Johnson had been sentenced to life in prison for a nonviolent drug offense as result of her 1996 conviction in a drug trafficking ring
But in court documents, Bunn alleges Boettcher´s testimony is riddled with false statements.
Boettcher, who died in 2021, testified Cantu stole and later got rid of Mosqueda´s Rolex watch. But the watch wasn´t stolen and was later found by Mosqueda´s family, Bunn said.
Boettcher told jurors Cantu proposed to her on the night of the 𝓀𝒾𝓁𝓁ings with an engagement ring he stole from Kitchen. But witnesses have since said Cantu and Boettcher had announced their engagement and showed off the ring a week before the 𝓀𝒾𝓁𝓁ings, according to Bunn.
Boettcher testified Cantu placed his bloody jeans and socks in their kitchen trashcan on the night of the 𝓀𝒾𝓁𝓁ings. But Cantu´s lawyers have questioned this because a police officer who was in his apartment the next day did not see the bloody clothes in the trashcan and they weren´t discovered until several days later, supporting the defense´s theory that someone else put them in the trashcan.
Jeff Boettcher, Amy´s brother, testified that prior to the 𝓀𝒾𝓁𝓁ings, Cantu told him he planned to 𝓀𝒾𝓁𝓁 Mosqueda and Cantu had tried to recruit him to ‘clean up’ afterward. However, Jeff Boettcher has since said he ‘lied’ and was not a credible witness due to his history of drug abuse, according to court documents.
‘Absent the largely unimpeached testimony of the Boettchers, it is unlikely that Mr. Cantu would have been convicted,’ Bunn said in court documents.
Bunn has credited an independent probe by Matt Duff, a private investigator, with uncovering much of the new evidence in the case. Duff has chronicled his findings in a podcast called Cousins By Blood.