When we reached out to him in 2019, we weren’t optimistic that he would want to talk to us
Liliana Segura: Oh, hi. My name is Liliana Segura, I’m a reporter. And I was hoping – I’ve been trying to get in touch with you.
Liliana Segura: This went on for a while. It might seem weird that a judge wouldn’t remember a death penalty case that he presided over. Sending someone to death row is obviously a pretty heavy burden. But Densen is not the only judge we’ve spoken to who didn’t remember a particular capital case. And given how many people were being sentenced to death in this era, it’s not all that surprising.
Woody Densen: Maybe another lawyer tried, another judge tried it. It’s possible that – I can’t imagine the kind of thing – maybe I went on vacation or something, and it was tried by court.
Liliana Segura: The record shows that you were the judge, so that’s why- otherwise, I wouldn’t know to get to in touch with you.
My name’s there. But I just don’t remember one with Felix Cantu being on it and this other guy, Oscar, doesn’t ring a bell at all.
Jordan Smith: Halfway through that conversation, I was like, Maybe he wasn’t the judge. He seems so certain he wasn’t the judge.
Liliana Segura: We also tried to reach Michael Fosher, Charles’s second chair lawyer, but he didn’t want to talk to us. Most of all, we wanted to talk to Felix Cantu. We wanted to know why he made the decisions he made at trial.
Jordan Smith: Cantu said he couldn’t meet up while we were in Houston because he was dealing with an emergency.