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Gustavo Cantu from Green Bay, who was sentenced to 35 years in prison for 2022

Gustavo Cantu from Green Bay, who was sentenced to 35 years in prison for 2022

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  • Gustavo Cantu of Green Bay was convicted of murder of Randall Denny by a jury. He was sentenced to 35 years in prison.
  • Denny's family said he shed light on the room with joy and laugh. His mother said he always planned to build her a house.
  • Lawyers recommended very different punishments, with the public prosecutor's office argued for 35 years and asked for the defense by 10.

Since Randall Denny von Hobart was fatally shot on April 30, 2022, his brother said in a conviction on May 23 for one of the three hearing accused on May 23.

“My mother is not the same. She will never be the same,” said Denny's brother. “The holidays are hard. Milestones bring mourning and my family no longer feels complete.”

Denny was found by the Green Bay police officers who reacted at the intersection of the Western and Perkins Avenue shortly after 5 a.m. when they responded to a report on a criminal complaint. He was declared dead at the crime scene and later decided on a gunshot wound on the head.

Gustavo Cantu, Alejandro Cantu and Jacob Ventura, all from Green Bay, were charged in this case. The 34 -year -old Alejandro Cantu did not advocate a competition against the murder murder battery on February 5 and was sentenced to 15 years in prison on March 31. Ventura, 38, did not advocate owning a firearm as a convicted criminal and supporting a crime on April 24 and being condemned on June 17.

Gustavo Cantu brought his case to court, which took seven days before a jury condemned him for the armed robbery of the murder. He returned to court on May 23, where the judge of the Brown County Circuit Court Thomas Walsh sentenced him to 35 years in prison.

“There will always be an empty chair”

Denny completed the college with a degree in carpentry. When he was killed, “I and him took this hope,” she said.

Denny brought his family constant joy and laughter, said his mother. When he went into a room, his sister told the court: “He lit it.”

“There will always be an empty chair on which my son should be Randall,” said Denny's mother.

The public prosecutor recommends 35 years in prison, the defense asks about 10

Gustavo Cantu has a protracted criminal register, said district prosecutor David Lasee from 1997. With previous crimes, including crimes of property, severe battery and drug accusations, Lasee, Cantus History “suggests that his character only hiked to a crime like Denny's case.

“Everything he led in his life and was involved in drugs and weapons in his late 1930s and has fast life for this event in this event, in which someone is killed because of his drug use, consumption of weapons,” said lake. “It almost seems to be inevitable, which is sad to say.”

Cantus criminal records also speaks for the need to protect the public, said Lake Lake. The protection of the public can often mean that it deteres similar behavior from others, said Lake Lake, but in Cantu's case there is a direct need to protect the public from him. Lake Lake recommended a prison sentence of 35 to 40 years.

“In the end, all other interventions that the Ministry of Corrections or Criminal Justice imposed on him was not successful,” said Lake Lake. “It was unsuccessful and he was still a danger to this community, which ultimately leads to this crime.”

Defender Corey Mehlos argued that the root of Cantu's substance use, of which he said that he may have been a childhood trauma, has never been addressed properly, and Cantu needs “trauma-informed intervention”, not the “old philosophy, simply lock it up and throw away”.

Mehlos also argued that Cantu's role in Denny's death was limited and found that no witnesses had announced and said they had seen Cantu with a gun. The facts of the case were complex and contradicted, since most witnesses consumed drugs at the time of the incident, Mehlos said, and “I don't think we will ever know … who shot Randall.”

Gustavo Cantu had less liability for Denny's death, said Mehlos when his brother Alejandro Cantu, who received 15 years in prison for almost exactly the same conviction. “If we want to protect the public from people who are involved in this crime, we have an upper limit of 15 years for Alejandro,” he said. Mehlos recommended a prison sentence of 10 years.

The judge follows the state recommendation, condemns Cantu to 35 years in prison

Walsh was strongly resisted by the idea that the conviction of Alejandro Cantu provided a “benchmark” for the conviction of his co -accused. Everyone brings their own character and levels of responsibility to the table, he said, and everyone earns an individual sentence.

The severity of the crime cannot be overestimated, said Walsh, and the effects of crime are much further than Denny's family.

“This event is scary for our community,” said Walsh. “You are afraid because you don't know if you are safe in your own houses.”

Cantu has clear rehabilitative needs, said Walsh, but his drug use does not take his responsibility for the crime.

“We are not responsible for coming from ourselves, but when we make decisions as adults and move and decide how we will behave our lives, we are responsible for these things,” said Walsh.

Walsh condemned Cantu first restriction at 35 years, followed by 13 years of extended supervision.

Vivian Barrett is the reporter of public security for the Green Bay Press Gazette. You can reach them at vmbarrett@greenbay.gannett.com or (920) 431-8314. Follow her on X, formerly Twitter, under @Vivianbarrett_.

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