Texas executes Ivan Cantu for double murder despite protests of innocence

Cantu used final words before lethal injection to maintain his innocence of 2000 killing of cousin and cousin's girlfriend

A Texas inmate who had long claimed his conviction more than 20 years ago was based on false testimony and questionable evidence was executed on Wednesday evening for fatally shooting two people, including his cousin.

Ivan Cantu received a lethal injection and was pronounced dead at 6.47pm at the state penitentiary in Huntsville for the November 2000 fatal shooting of his cousin, James Mosqueda, 27, and his cousin's girlfriend, Amy Kitchen, 22. In final words from the execution chamber, he said several times that he was innocent of the killings.