Last February, Kim Kardashian shared a photo of Ivan Cantu on social media, saying he was a death row prisoner and Texas will execute him within two days. None of them are real.
Cantu, a resident of Westchester, NY, has not yet been sentenced to death for double murder.
However, he was very angry about mixing and suing the star for defamation, according to an unapproved civil lawsuit filed in the Los Angeles Superior Court on Thursday. In the complaint, Cantu lambasts Kardashian shared unauthorized photos of his face with more than 350 million Instagram followers, saying the incident caused severe psychological and emotional trauma.
Cantu has the same name as the Texas death row inmate, who was fatally injected two days after his post at Kardashian.
The late Cantu was found guilty of murder of his cousin and his cousin fiancé in 2000. He insisted on his innocence until his death.
Texas death row inmate Ivan Cantu was executed on February 28, 2024 on fatal injection.
(Texas Department of Criminal Justice)
Kardashian’s lawyer Michael Rhodes defended the position “a simple mistake of using another public photograph of someone with the same name to promote Kim’s cause of criminal justice reform Long-term commitment”.
The Instagram post contains a photo of an incorrect CANTU, as well as a link to a petition asking Collin County District Attorney to withdraw the date of execution.
“Once the error is found, the image is deleted almost immediately,” Rhodes said in a statement to the Times. “We hope that this issue will be resolved without litigation, but of course we will defend Kim Jong Il as needed.”
Kantu said despite the removal of the position, it still caused serious damage to his reputation and exposed his hatred and contempt by mistakenly identifying him as a double murderer.
The complaint states: “Kantu suffered severe emotional hurt and hurt in the form of emotional and psychological pain, psychological injury, embarrassment, anxiety, sleep, nightmares, post-traumatic stress, headaches, need for health care and emotional counseling.”
He is suing Kardashian for defamation, defamation, intentional emotional distress, invasion of privacy, negligence and representation in false ways. He is seeking compensation and punitive damages for the amounts determined in court.
The complaint states: “Kardashian published and spread false information without privilege or authorization, and her actions were intentional, negligent, reckless and/or contrary to moral and decent standards.”
Kardashian, who is studying becoming a lawyer, began acting in criminal justice around 2017 when she learned about the case of Alice Marie Johnson, who was in charge of nonviolent drug crimes Sentenced to life imprisonment. In 2018, Celbrity successfully lobbies then-President Trump to grant Johnson a wide-ranging scale.
Since then, she has continued to advocate for the representatives of prisoners, including the Menendez Brothers, whom she believes should be resentful and released.
