Texas plans to execute Ivan Cantu today, who has pleaded innocent to a double murder since 2000.

(CNN) — Texas is preparing to execute death row inmate Ivan Cantu, who claims to be innocent of the murders for which he will be executed this Wednesday night, 20 years after he was convicted.

Cantu’s execution could still be halted or postponed, although a federal appeals court on Tuesday declined to halt the planned lethal injection or allow the 50-year-old to mount new challenges. The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals also denied the appeal and motion for a stay of execution.

Still, Cantu’s defenders — including the three judges in the case — continue to ask the state’s Republican governor to grant Cantu a 30-day pardon, the maximum it can grant after the parole board unanimously rejected it this week. In the week of the prisoner’s application for pardon.

Her other advocates include reality star and businesswoman Kim Kardashian, actor Martin Sheen and anti-death penalty activist Sister Helen Pregen of “Dead Man Walking” fame.

However, the inmate’s staunchest supporter may also be the first: His mother, Silvia Cantu, remains convinced of her son’s innocence and that his life will be spared, she told CNN on Tuesday. “I’m still hoping they’ll hit the pause button and let Ivan’s lawyer come in and present the evidence he has,” said Sylvia Cantu, “and hopefully they can exonerate him.”

To push for a stay of the sentence, Ivan Cantu has pointed to the cases of other death row inmates in Texas — Rodney Reed and Melissa Lucio — who claim they were also wrongfully convicted. In fact, at least 196 people sentenced to death in the United States have been exonerated since 1973, including 16 in Texas, according to the nonprofit Death Penalty Information Center.

It’s unclear whether Cantu will ask the US Supreme Court to intervene, and CNN has reached out to his lawyer. It is not uncommon for death row inmates to appeal to a higher court to avoid the death penalty, and sometimes those requests come at the last minute.

Now, Cantu hopes to have his execution stayed so he can argue that he was denied a fair trial and framed by those who, by his account, are actually responsible for the 2000 murders of his cousin James Mosqueda and his cousin’s fiancee Amy. was determined. Kitchen, a nursing student.

Still, Collin County District Attorney Greg Willis remains “absolutely convinced” of Cantu’s guilt, he said in a statement, citing the “indisputable evidence” presented at trial.

Prosecutors remain ‘convinced’ of Cantu’s guilt

In court documents, Cantu and his attorney claim the state’s key witnesses gave false testimony at trial, including one man who has since recanted. They also maintain that newly discovered evidence supports the story Cantu told at the time of the murder, suggesting that Mosqueda – an alleged drug trafficker – was ambushed and killed by rivals, who, according to inmate documents, killed him. Cantu was also threatened over the cousin’s alleged debt. . Cantu also argues that assistance of counsel was ineffective, pointing to his trial attorney’s decision not to call a single witness during the guilt-innocence phase of the trial.

Prosecutors, however, deny these claims, writing in their own court documents that Cantu’s arguments do nothing to “discredit the integrity of the guilty verdict.”

Cantu’s fingerprints were found on the magazine inside the gun used to kill Mosqueda and Kitchen, and DNA analysis showed blood on Jeans Garbage found in Cantu’s trash can belonged to the mosqueda and the kitchen, according to prosecutors.

“I strongly believe that justice has been served in this case and that the Collin County jury should have a verdict on February 28,” Willis said.

Cantu’s case was previously upheld on appeal. But he and his attorney say the evidence that now supports his claim of innocence — much of it unexplained podcaster Matt Duff) has not been heard by the courts.

Similar arguments were included in an appeal last April, shortly before Cantu was scheduled to run for the last time. A judge later pushed back Cantu’s execution date, but the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals ultimately denied Cantu’s request without considering the merits of the claims.

The jury foreman now sees “holes” in the case

Taken together, the evidence was enough to convince three jurors in Cantu’s trial to join the effort to halt Wednesday’s execution. That includes the jury foreman, who now fears the jury panel was presented with an incomplete picture of the case, he told CNN.
“I’m sure there are some holes in this,” Jeff Calhoun said, adding that he took his responsibility as a juror very seriously.

Meanwhile, Cantu’s supporters are raising awareness of the case (a petition calling for his execution date to be pushed back has nearly 150,000 signatures) and are pushing Republican Gov. Greg Abbott to grant a pardon.

“There are all these questions about the actual guilt of this man,” Prejean told CNN’s Jake Tapper this week, asking people to contact Abbott on Cantu’s behalf. “It has one of the last vestiges of the divine right of kings. It is the safety valve in all of this. When justice is not done in court or you question it… it can grant pardons and allow enough time to examine new evidence, Which no court is ready to hear yet.

Cantu sought a hearing on his pardon application and a commutation of life imprisonment or a 120-day pardon.

CNN’s Devan Cole contributed to this report.

This is a developing story and will be updated.