Based on taped con­ver­sa­tions among mem­bers of the Bexar County pros­e­cu­tor’s office, some par­tic­i­pants in the inves­ti­ga­tion of the case of Ruben Cantu may have made up their minds before talk­ing to those who now assert that Cantu was inno­cent. Cantu was exe­cut­ed in Texas in 1993. Significant evi­dence has emerged from a vic­tim-wit­ness and from a co-defen­dant that Texas may have exe­cut­ed the wrong man. The senior District Attorney, Mike Beers, said on tape, before inter­view­ing the wit­ness­eses, that ​“They’re all lying.” Another pri­ma­ry DA inves­ti­ga­tor, James Moore, said, ​“It’s going to go for­ward with the fact that it was jus­ti­fied and every­thing was cor­rect and that’s the way it is.”

Susan Reed is the District Attorney of Bexar County. Her office has been crit­i­cized for not being impar­tial in assum­ing the inves­ti­ga­tion of the alle­ga­tions of a wrong­ful exe­cu­tion. Reed had been the judge that set Cantu’s exe­cu­tion date.

A spokesman for the DA’s office said he regret­ted that the remarks had been made on a pub­licly record­ed tele­phone because they could imply that his officed had ​“pre­judged the case,” and admit­ted that the state­ments might shake the pub­lic’s con­fi­dence in the inves­ti­ga­tion. The office also said there was no con­spir­a­cy to cov­er up actions.

(Houston Chronicle and San Antonio Express-News, July 22, 2006). See Innocence.

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