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#Post#: 578--------------------------------------------------
~ Anibal Canales, Jr., (TX) ~
By: BuzzC Date: February 23, 2023, 6:46 pm
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Execution scheduled for former Telford inmate who killed
another--
December 1st, 2022
BOWIE COUNTY, Texas -- A former Telford Unit inmate convicted of
killing another at the prison is scheduled for execution March
29, 2023.
Anibal Canales Jr., 58, was found guilty of strangling a
47-year-old inmate in his cell on July 11, 1997. Canales was two
years into a 15-year term for aggravated sexual assault.
In June, the U.S. Supreme Court denied Canales' request for the
court to review his case. In the dissenting opinion, Justice
Sonia Sotomayor argued that Canales, a native of Illinois, was
sentenced to death partly because of his ineffective
representation at trial.
"Competent counsel would have told the jury of 'a tragic
childhood rife with violence, sexual abuse, poverty, neglect and
homelessness'; of Canales' kindness to his mother and sisters;
and 'of a man beset by PTSD, a failing heart and the dangers of
prison life' when he committed the crime for which he was
sentenced to die," the filing states.
Sotomayor referenced the findings of the federal habeas
proceedings, which noted Canales' troubled childhood and history
of legal trouble, including the theft of an income tax check in
1983.
"That stolen check sent Canales to federal prison. Later that
same year, he was convicted of theft and sexual assault and
received a 15-year sentence, during which he joined the Texas
Syndicate prison gang," states the opinion, which references the
findings of Judge Patrick Higginbotham of the 5th Circuit Court
of Appeals.
Canales was paroled in 1990 from a Bexar County state prison but
returned in 1993 when his parole was revoked after another
sexual assault.
Canales eventually was sent to the Telford Unit in Bowie County,
where he suffered a heart attack.
"When they discovered that Canales had prior sex offense
convictions and had been a member of the Latin Kings, the Texas
Syndicate ordered him killed," the opinion states.
Canales' cellmate, Bruce Richards, allegedly was a leader in the
Texas Mafia prison gang. Richards admitted Canales to the Texas
Mafia and worked an agreement with the Syndicate for his safety,
according to opinion.
"Canales thus owed Richards his life. Shortly thereafter, and on
Richards' instruction, Canales helped kill an inmate named Gary
Dickerson, who was blackmailing the gang," the opinion states.
Citing Higginbotham's opinion, Sotomayor wrote that Richards
ordered Canales to write a note exaggerating Canales' role in
the murder.
"As Richards later explained, 'If (Canales) refused to do what I
told him I would have sent him back to the Texas Syndicate, and
he would be killed.'"
Sotomayor argued that Canales' defense failed to present such
factors at trial as mitigating evidence.
"Canales' crimes were brutal, and he deserves just punishment.
Under our Constitution, however, no person's crime is so
terrible that he loses his right to the effective assistance of
counsel. That is especially true when he faces execution. If the
right to counsel means anything, it means that the State should
not take someone's life when incompetent counsel failed to offer
a meaningful mitigation defense," Sotomayor wrote.
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