Kim Kardashian has scored a major legal victory after a California judge dismissed a defamation lawsuit accusing her of causing ‘severe emotional distress’ by mistakenly posting the photo of an innocent man and identifying him as a death row inmate.
The reality star, 44, had shared the image on social media in February 2024 with her millions of followers, believing it depicted Ivan Cantu, a Texas death-row inmate, who maintained his innocence for more than 20 years before his execution on February 28, 2024.
However, Kardashian’s post had actually featured a different Ivan Cantu, a New York resident with the same name who had no criminal record and no ties to Texas.Â
The man later sued the star in February 2025, alleging defamation, invasion of privacy, and ‘false light’ over the high-profile mix-up.
Cantu’s attorney, Greg Sobo, said the post, shared to hundreds of millions, had tarnished his client’s reputation and caused lasting psychological harm.
‘Social media is too often abused to bully the innocent, incite harm, and injure our communities,’ Sobo told The Daily Mail in February. ‘Just like those who cause physical harm should be held accountable, those who cause injuries to innocent victims through social media must also be held responsible. If anyone should know the power of social media, it is Ms. Kim Kardashian.’
Kim Kardashian scored a major legal victory after a California judge dismissed a defamation lawsuit after posting the wrong man’s photo as death row inmate
According to Cantu’s LinkedIn profile, he is a Senior Project Manager for Oliver Agency at Morgan Stanley and has never been arrested or convicted of a crime.
But in a decisive ruling this week, Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Michael Small dismissed the lawsuit on free-speech grounds, writing that Cantu failed to show he had suffered any tangible damages as a result of the post.
Small, who heard arguments on Kardashian’s anti-SLAPP motion on October 14, ruled in her favor on Wednesday, finding that the state’s anti-SLAPP (Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation) law, which protects individuals from lawsuits meant to chill free expression, applied squarely to Kardashian’s case.
‘The hitch for the plaintiff is that he failed to provide out
that he suffered any injury as a result of Kardashian’s misappropriation of his likeness,’ the judge wrote.
Cantu had argued in his declaration that he was bombarded with messages from strangers who thought he was about to be executed, saying the post caused ’embarrassment, humiliation, anxiety, emotional and mental anguish, headaches, loss of sleep and loss of reputation.’Â
He added that the attention ‘significantly interfered’ with his grieving process after losing his mother just a month earlier.
Kardashian, who has spent years studying law and advocating for criminal-justice reform, quickly acknowledged the mix-up.
‘I immediately instructed my team to delete the story from Instagram and Facebook, and they did so,’ she said in court documents. ‘In a subsequent story that same day, I publicly apologized to the plaintiff for the mistaken use of his photo.’
She emphasized that the incorrect image was live for only ‘a few hours’ before being taken down and that she later continued to post about the inmate Ivan Cantu’s execution – using the correct photos.
Following the original post earlier this year, the wrong Ivan Cantu said he endured sleepless nights and had to clarify that he was ‘not getting executed’ friends and family
At the time, her attorney Michael Rhodes told The Daily Mail: ‘It was a simple mistake of using the public photo of another man with the same name to promote Kim’s longstanding commitment to the cause of criminal-justice reform. The image was taken down almost immediately once the error was discovered.’
Kardashian’s lawyers argued that Cantu’s lawsuit was ‘an attempt to cash in on a mistake that occurred in connection with Ms. Kardashian’s exercise of her constitutional rights of free speech and petition.’
The case stemmed from Kardashian’s post supporting Texas inmate Ivan ‘Abner’ Cantu, who was executed on February 28, 2024, for the murders of his cousin James Mosqueda and Mosqueda’s girlfriend Amy Kitchen.Â
The 50-year-old maintained his innocence until the end, telling witnesses through the glass, ‘I want you to know that I never killed James and Amy.’
Following the execution, Kardashian posted on X (formerly Twitter): ‘Ivan Cantu was executed. Someone I believe is an innocent man. My prayers go out to his family and loved ones and everyone involved.’
The courtroom victory comes as Kardashian awaits results from the notoriously difficult California Bar Exam, which she took in July; seen in 2019Â
The courtroom victory comes as Kardashian awaits results from the notoriously difficult California Bar Exam, which she took in July.
The reality star, who previously passed the ‘baby bar’ in 2021, will learn on November 7, 2025, whether she can officially call herself an attorney.
During a recent appearance on The Graham Norton Show, the mother-of-four admitted she’s anxious about the outcome.Â
‘So everyone please pray for me. I worked really hard,’ she said, adding that she could ‘maybe in 10 years give up being Kim K and be a trial lawyer.’
Kardashian has long been passionate about criminal-justice reform, following in the footsteps of her late father Robert Kardashian, a member of O.J. Simpson’s defense team.Â
She famously helped secure the 2018 release of Alice Marie Johnson, who was granted clemency by then-President Donald Trump after serving 22 years of a life sentence for a nonviolent drug offense.
