End of 2011

No posts this week. Take a moment to thank God for your family, freedom, and the ability to take action against injustice. Next post will be up on Monday the 2nd, 2012.

Weekend Reading 24

If you'd like to choose a question to be answered by SPM, go vote in our Facebook poll!

http://www.facebook.com/SPM.Aftermath

Ladondrell Montgomery

Ladondrell Montgomery was hauled before Judge Mark Ellis(the same judge that presided over Coy vs. Texas) for a robbery that took place in 2009. I assume it was a normal trial; witnesses were called, evidence must have been produced, lawyers probably argued back and forth.

Mr. Montgomery was given a life sentence and carted away to prison. But his story doesn’t end there. He was exonerated this month when it was discovered that he had actually been in jail at the time of his supposed crime.

Are you shitting me, Harris County?

The judge laid the blame on the lawyers. The lawyers each blamed the other side. Mr. Montgomery himself is no angel, and remains in jail under indictment for five other charges; But the fact is that in this case justice came down hard, as hard as possible, on a man who was innocent of the crime he was accused of.

I wonder what led the prosecutors to believe that they had the right man. Was it because he lived near the scene of the crime? Was it because he’d been arrested before and he was a familiar face? It sure as hell couldn’t have been anything substantive, because there is no way he committed the crime. So basically he was convicted because the state said “He’s guilty”.

Some people will say that he deserved what he got because he’s a career criminal, and it doesn’t really matter if his trial was fair, as long as he ends up behind bars. Those people fail to realize that if the standard of proof has slipped so much that a man can be convicted of a crime when the government that is charging him had him in custody at the time…Well, it means that they don’t need any goddamn proof. They don’t need shit to put you or your mother or your granny in jail except for the word of a prosecutor. You might get lucky and have a jury that calls them on their bullshit, but in Harris County, what are the odds of that happening?

Men are being locked away for anything and everything; robbery, rape, and murder, without any proof at all. Nothing but the word of Texas and it’s agents, presented to a jury in such a way that they can convict with a clear conscience.

Via http://blog.bennettandbennett.com/2011/12/meet-ronald-ray-sr.html

http://www.chron.com/news/article/Conviction-tossed-for-man-in-jail-at-time-of-crime-2390121.php

South Park Monster (Part 5)

“...This was stacking up as a high-stakes swearing match between a nine-year-old girl and a 31-year-old rap star…”

Well, that’s not going to be much of a contest, is it? That mean old shave-headed rap star swearing at a little girl…oh wait, that’s not actually what was going on. Although Lomax presents the trial as some kind of mano-a-mano fist fight between Carlos Coy and the child, we know that most of what goes on in a court room happens between lawyers.

We know that Coy initially had Mark Ramsey as his defense lawyer. We also know that Ramsay mysteriously disappeared from the news reports before the trial, and Chip Lewis took his place.

I have no way of knowing if Mr. Lewis is a great lawyer or not; in the article South Park Monster he is briefly mentioned as if he were some kind of grizzled veteran of the defense bar, seasoned and experienced.

“Almost as fierce were the legal clashes between veteran defense attorney Chip Lewis and prosecutor Denise Oncken.”

Now, here’s the Dictionary.com definition of  ‘veteran’:

Veteran, noun. 1. A person who has had long service or experience in an occupation, office, or the like.

According to Mr. Lewis’ own website, he was a prosecutor working for the DA’s office until 2000. This means that he was a defense lawyer for a year, maybe two when he was handed the high-profile case of Coy vs. Texas.

This is not any kind of huge, blatant lie by the Houston Press, but it it is one of many tiny little ‘tweaks’ that I find strange. Why say Lewis was a ‘veteran defense lawyer’ when he was not? What kind of picture is Lomax trying to paint, and how does it differ from reality?

http://www.houstonpress.com/2002-06-06/news/south-park-monster/

http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/veteran

http://www.chiplewislaw.com/Bio/ChipLewis.asp

Letter to Pat Lykos 10

So you’ve read SPM’s words; you now know that the civil trial went well for him, and that, although he could have lost everything, the jury only gave the bare minimum, since the judge would not allow them to give nothing. What better time to drop a line to the DA’s office and let them know you’ve been looking into the case and you want to see it reviewed? As the year draws to a close, we’ll be gearing up for election season 2012.

Let Pat Lykos know that we want a new, fair trial, this time with all the evidence presented, as an example of the justice that she pursues.

The Honorable Patricia R. Lykos

1201 Franklin, Suite 600
Houston, Texas 77002-1923

Ma’am,

 

I’m writing today about the case of Carlos Coy, cause # 908426.

As the public learns more about Coy Vs. Texas, as the facts slowly come to light, many of us are wondering how this case ever even made it to a prosecutor’s desk. The complete lack of evidence, the only witness suggesting that she had dreamed the whole thing…We can’t help but ask, how did this happen? What facts were hidden during the criminal trial that, when revealed to a civil jury, resulted in an award of ‘0’ dollars?

 

Please, take a little time to review Mr. Coy’s case. I believe a review by your office will reveal the need for a new trial, and encourage the state prove its case against Mr. Coy with facts instead of conjecture and opinions.

 

Me, My address, Blah Blah Blah

Questions for SPM

If you have a question about Carlos Coy's case, send it to the address below; next Tuesday I'll put up four of them on FaceBook and y'all will choose two to be answered.



SPM Responds (Part 2)

...For example, the question you asked about the civil situation. You said, “In your write-up you mentioned that your accuser lost the civil suit; the only documents the Harris County Clerk has on the web site appears to show that they won $25,000.”

I didn’t say they lost the suit, it was impossible for them to lose because the judge made a ruling that my conviction was final when my state appeals had been denied and that I wouldn’t get the chance to defend myself in civil trial. It was a tragic ruling because I was anxious to get back in court, even if it was only civil, and prove my innocence.

But it wasn’t to be. My accusers knew that lightning wouldn’t strike twice on the same man, so they waited till my state appeals were denied before they took me to trial. Somehow they knew that I wouldn’t be able to defend myself if my conviction was final, which eventually it became “final” once your state appeals have been denied. A person almost never gets relief during the state level of the appeal process. Why? Because the state just spent a lot of money getting you convicted and they damn sure don’t want to let you go.

They want you in prison so they can start making that $40,000 a year on your head. So the snakes waited it out to make sure they were in the money. It took about a year and a half, almost two years, before my state appeals had been exhausted. Then I got a visit from my lawyer who brought me the bad news. He said that this judge made a decision that he (my lawyer) greatly disagrees with. He said that we wouldn’t be able to fight the fact that I’m innocent of these charges. It knocked the air out of me because we (My lawyer and I) were ready to expose this family, and the truth. This is what my lawyer told me.

He said, “Carlos, you won’t be able to say that you did not do this. You won’t be able to even say those words. I can possibly find ways to buff out the truth, but the jury would have to be paying pretty close attention to my efforts. The jury will basically be ordered to look at you as the man who did this ungodly thing to this little girl.”

“How can they do this? I’m supposed to be able to defend myself.”

“I agree, but this judge doesn’t think going through a whole new trial is necessary.”

“So, how would you be able to bring the truth out.”

“I can try to paint a picture, and just hope that the jury can see what I’m painting. I believe you’re innocent, and I’ll try my best, but the judge’s decision was not a good thing for us. Let me explain what will happen:

There’s going to be two parts of this trial, damage and punitive. On damages, the jury will decide how much money this child will need for the rest of her life to pay any medical costs, such as counseling, physical therapist visits, etc.

Let’s say she’s awarded ten thousand dollars a year for the next fifty years. Then you’ll be ordered to pay her five hundred thousand dollars in damages. That’s how that goes.

But the punitive stage has no cap on the amount of money the jury can award the plaintiff. You’ve already been punished as far as going to prison, but now they want to punish you financially. The Jury can award them a bajillion dollars if they choose. Of course, you don’t have a bajillion dollars but you’ll be broke for the rest of your life trying to pay it. So this is the stage I’m most worried about.

I know you don’t want to hear this, but you may want to think about giving them an offer to avoid taking this to court. I think you should talk to your brother and come up with something that’s good for you. I understand that you don’t want to give these people a dime, but you’ve got to weigh out the situation. You could lose everything you’ve ever worked for, and then some.”

The next weekend, I spoke to Tudy. I explained that the fight would be lost even before we put the gloves on. We decided that the smartest thing to do was to make an offer. This was one of the lowest points in my life; having to pay people money who didn’t work for it, and for damn sure didn’t deserve it. We agreed that $300,000 was more than fair, and something we could handle.

A week later, Tudy wrote me and told me that our lawyer gave their lawyer the offer, and their lawyer started laughing. There would be no deal and the trial was locked in.

In late [1994?] I was shipped to the Harris County Jail to await civil trial. In January of [1995] the trial began. Sure enough the judge told the jury that they’re job would not be to decide whether I was guilty or not. H esaid, and I believe these were his exact words, “Twelve jurors, just like yourself, already sat through a lengthy trial and found Mr. Coy guilty.” He told them that their job was only to decide how much money the plaintiff should receive.

But my lawyer was brilliant. With God on his side, he showed the jury what kind of people we were dealing with. He let it be known that the child thought the whole thing could have been a dream. Plus, the judge in the civil trial allowed us to talk about the way this family lived. These are the kind of facts that the judge in criminal trial broke his back trying to keep in the dark. For all the jury knew in criminal trial, this family was a bunch of Christians like the child’s dumbass mother said they were.

By the end of the damages phase of the trial, you could see in the jury’s eyes that they were confused. That’s just how good my lawyer was…

…Anyway, so when it was time to award damages, the jury insulted this family by giving them $25,000. Everyone knows that their lawyer gets at least half of that, so the family was, in reality, given 12gs. I got a microphone in my study that costs more than 25gs. The rims on one of my cars are $3,000 a rim. When you see all the possessions that their lawyer brings up, you’ll know how much of an insult that figure was. The jury, in my opinion, were saying, “We don’t believe this man was guilty. But since we’re being made to look at him as guilty, here’s some chump change.”

Like I said, That’s what I believe the jury was saying because hurting a child is such a horrific thing, especially in the damage it can cause. $25,000 was -is- nothing.

But now came the punitive stage. This is, as their lawyer put it, a multiple of what the damages are. Therefore it should be at least 2, 3, 4 times than what damages were. Nope. Sorry. After more testimony, the jury awarded them “Zero dollars.” That decision represented what that whole trial ended up being about. About a man that shouldn’t have even been in that court.

You know, when their lawyer came to my unit to do the civil deposition, which is done before the trial, I complimented him on his shirt. It was a cool-looking polo. I said, “Man, that’s a nice polo.” He didn’t even answer me. He just said hello to my lawyer and began asking me question about everything I owned. At the end of the trial, after that family walked out of the courtroom in shame, that same lawyer came up to me and shook my hand. He said “I wish you well, Mr. Coy.”

So that was that. I called it a victory, because under the circumstances, it was. But I never said that my accuser lost the civil suit. I said, “In the civil trial, my lawyer found ways to expose these people and the jury saw another side of the story.” They ended that trial by awarding the family zero dollars.

Weekend Reading 23

Another SPM mention in an article about...food?

http://blogs.houstonpress.com/eating/2011/11/health_department_roundup_38.php

Answers from SPM

I mentioned on the blog that I've been writing to SPM, and that we've worked out a plan where y'all could send in questions about his case and he'll answer them here. It's taken awhile to set up; I sent several questions from myself and people who have worked with me on the blog and received his answers, along with a few excerpts from the upcoming book.

Here's how we're going to work it; Next Monday the first official answer from Coy will be posted. It will be in response to a question that I asked(a reserve answer). At that time, I'll post the blog's Email address and ask you to send in questions of your own. After one week, I'll go through and pick four of your questions and post them up in a poll on our facebook page. Everyone can vote for the question they'd like to see answered the most. After a few days of voting, I'll send the top two questions to Coy.

There may be some delay in the mail; that can't be helped. But there should be an answer from SPM every month for at least the next six months. Anytime his letters are delayed, I'll put up one of the reserve answers.

Now, there's no reason why you can't send your questions to him yourself; but if you have a great one, why not send it here so that everyone can see the answer? The point of this exercise is to make information about his trial public; to let people know what happened as seen through the eyes of Carlos Coy, not the corrupt DA's office of Chuck Rosenthal's time, or a newspaper with an axe to grind.

Tony Hall

Tony Hall served every day of his 15 year sentence for sexual assault of a child. When he was first charged in 1993-ish, he turned down a plea deal because he refused to admit to a crime he had not committed. After his incarceration he had opportunities to be paroled but because he refused to say ‘I did it”, each time his parole was denied.

He did his time and was released in 2008.

After he was released the supposed victim, who would have been 5 or 6 at the time of the trial, did what he could to right a terrible wrong.

Two years after Hall’s release from prison his victim, now 23 years of age, provided attorney Bates with an affidavit which stated: “My memories of that time are vague, however, I do not have any memory of Tony Hall molesting me or touching me inappropriately. I do remember my mother telling me to say Mr. Hall touched me. I was very scared and told my mother what she wanted to hear so that I would not get a beating. I remember arguing with my mother about this and I remember my mother threatening me.”

According to an affidavit from the mother’s own sister, the little boy was beaten until he told his mother what she wanted to her; that he had been abused.

Mr. Hall was officially exonerated this year and Texas is now on the hook for over a million dollars in compensation for his false imprisonment. If only that money would buy back the 15 years of his life that were stolen by the judicial system.

http://www.kltv.com/story/14058405/court-overturns-sex-assault-conviction-for-lufkin-man

http://lufkindailynews.com/news/local/article_a421d5b8-3a49-11e0-9758-001cc4c03286.html

http://www.johntfloyd.com/blog/2011/02/04/the-innocence-percentage/

Weekend Reading 22

~And if you hate,

check me out Lo
if my name's in your mouth

then my dick's down your throat~

A recent article by John Nova Lomax. He just can't believe that this guy, who confessed to molesting his student, got 90 while Coy, who maintains his innocence, received 45. I guess the fact that Reeves was convicted on six charges and Coy on only one makes no difference to Lomax.

Letter to Pat Lykos 9

It’s the first of the month, time for another letter to Lykos. I found this article in which 10,000 police officers are talking shit about Lykos, claiming she’s soft on crime and is making the citizens of Houston unsafe.

Why? Because she's made it harder for police to obtain bullshit convictions. As Minister Robert Muhammad puts it:

"They now have to prove and obey the law, and every DA should've been doing that from the very beginning so they've lost their privileged position and the gold old boy system…”

So please, take a moment of your day to write and let Lykos know that we see what she’s doing, and we appreciate it. If you’re going to be more likely to support her bid for re-election if she considers our case, let her know.

She obviously can’t count on the support of 10,000 police officers, so why not gain the support of HPD’s natural prey? Men and women of every color who live under the shadow of the state’s power, who know that all it takes to put them in prison is a crooked cop and the testimony of a crack head with nothing to lose. 

I want to stress that this is not about trading Carlos Coy’s freedom for votes. That would be yet another massive perversion of the system. What we’re asking her to do is prove to us one more time that she believes in the rules of due process; in everyone’s right to a fair trial.

Pat Lykos is a Republican. Republican’s bread and butter is the image that they are tough on crime. Pat Lykos has given a frank “Fuck you” to those who would use the courts as a corrupt conviction mill in order to make themselves appear ‘tough’. That’s not an easy thing to do, nor is it considered very smart politically. Let her know that you appreciate her efforts.

The Honorable Patricia R. Lykos

1201 Franklin, Suite 600
Houston, Texas 77002-1923

Ma’am,

I’m writing today about the case of Carlos Coy, #908426.

I saw an article in the Houston Press the other day about a group of police officers that claimed you were soft on crime and I just wanted to take a moment to tell you that the average citizen sees what you are doing, and appreciates it in a way that few HPD officers ever will.

You have restored accountability and honor to the DA’s office after Rosenthal’s disgraceful behavior. Unfortunately memories can be short, and what better way to remind people of the foolishness that you ended than by recommending a new trial in one of Rosenthal’s most notorious cases?

Carlos Coy was convicted with no physical evidence, no witnesses except the 9 year old girl who testified that the episode may have been a dream; the mother of this child, who held a grudge against Coy, and a few state’s experts, one of whom claimed her ‘feelings’ about the matter amounted to proof of his guilt.

Please give us justice, and remind the citizens of Houston how far we have come since 2008.

Me, my address, blah blah blah.

http://www.myfoxhouston.com/dpp/news/local/111129-officers-say-da-pat-lykos-has-dropped-the-ball-on-crime

SPM Responds (Part 1)

This blog is all about providing context; context to the trial, the accusations, and the opinions of the press. All of what I write is my opinion, and most of that is formed by guessing about the motives and thoughts of a man I’ve never met. We have some contact through letters, but it just didn’t occur to me to talk to him before posting about the comment ‘I would have went to jail for fucking all those little young bitches’. I (wrongly) assumed that if after ten years there wasn’t an official explanation published, that there simply wasn’t one.

I’m going to get shit wrong sometimes, but I am not afraid to correct myself; here is Carlos Coy’s response to my post South Park Monster #1. I appreciate him sending it.

 

…I want to talk about your letter, and how you took on some of the things written in the article called ‘South Park Monster’ by John Nova Lomax…

…There was a woman, I forgot her name. I even forgot how I met her. All I know is that I was about 21 years old, and she was about 38, and I wanted to have sex with her. Then again that was usually the case when I either knew, worked with or walked by a woman.

This woman was a red-haired white lady who ran an organization called No More Victims. It was mostly to protect battered women but she had her hands in anti-drug programs and helping the incarcerated. Somehow we met, somehow she was impressed with me and somehow I would talk to groups of people with her, as a representative of No More Victims. There was no paychecks but if I could only find out if the carpet matched the drapes I’d have been alright. (It’s an old red-head joke. Never mind.)

            One day she took me to a state jail in downtown Houston. I was going to talk to about 35 men who were soon to go home. We walked in, walked through security doors, walked through more security doors and were then escorted to a room full of men. The red head introduced me and I began talking to the men about life. I told them to find good people to befriend, to let go old friends who were prone to trouble, to care about themselves. I told them about my life.

           I said “Fellas, I was no Einstein myself. In fact I failed 9^th grade twice till I decided to drop out before I failed thrice. I was seventeen and one more year would have would have put me in prison for fucking a classmate.”

            There was a roar of laughter and what I said had just popped in my head. My whole speech was unrehearsed. But I said the joke in a way that the inmates understood the funniness of it. The joke was that I’d be a fucking grown man in the ninth grade. It had nothing to do with fucking fourteen year old girls. In fact when I was seventeen years old, I couldn’t buy a piece of pussy…

So ya see, Incandesio, it was a joke that went really well when I first said it. I had it set up right, and I said it right. Years later, still remembering the success of this joke, I tried to use it again during this interview with the Houston Press. But, instead of saying “classmates” to show the comedy of an adult in ninth grade, I said “all these little young bitches” which doesn’t sound cool.

            Plus, I’m 28 years old during this interview which is less forgivable than if a 21 year old (that looks 17) says it. It was a failure the 2^nd time I said it and John Lomax, and the D.A.s had a gem of a statement in their quest to destroy me. 

If all goes as planned, there will be more from SPM starting around mid-December. We're working on a question & answer feature for the blog so y'all can ask questions about his case and have them answered. Stay tuned.

Weekend Reading 21

"By now we should all be aware that you don't walk out of a courtroom knowing the truth. You walk out of the courtroom with a verdict. There is a big difference."

I highly reccomend "The Defense Rests" , the blog of  Houston defense attorney Paul B. Kennedy.

Grand Juries

Before you can try a felony case in Texas, you have to take your evidence before a Grand Jury. Only prosecutors are allowed to present evidence when trying to get an indictment, and they're presenting it to the regular people that make up the G.J.; the prosecutor decides what witnesses to call, and what evidence to present. In the indictment process, the prosecutor is NOT required to include any evidence that would be favorable to the potential defendant. The accused is not allowed to testify in front of the G.J. unless the prosecutor allows it, and he is NOT allowed to have his lawyer present if he does. After weighing the evidence, the Grand Jury decides whether or not there is a good reason to take the case to trial.
"The indictment is termed a "true bill" against a prisoner; a decision not to indict is termed a "no bill."

So the D.A. gets to say whatever the hell they want, and call whatever witnesses they want. This might have been the police officer who swore up and down that Coy was 'grooming' his daughter for assault, then later admitted this was nothing but her opinion, worth no more than mine or yours. It could have been Susan Szczygielski, who decided that it just wasn't possible that an assault DIDN'T happen, and therefore didn't follow up on the possibility that the complainant had a nightmare because of the sex scenes in the movies they had watched that night. It could have been the mother who sued for cash after the criminal trial.

Confronted with all this information, most of it probably bullshit, most people would say to themselves "Yeah, it sounds like it might be possible. We'll send the case to trial and if he's innocent, it'll come out in the end." But once that indictment comes down, look out. In Rosenthal's Harris County, the fact that you'd been indicted was proof enough that you were guilty.

For some reason, the year after Pat Lykos took office, cases deemed to be not worth a trial skyrocketed.

However, a KHOU-TV investigation has discovered the number of no-bills issued in Harris County has spiked upwards by more than 40 percent between 2008 and 2009, when first-term District Attorney Pat Lykos took office.

…For instance, the number of no-bills for aggravated sexual assaults of children under 14 jumped by 26 percent, moving from 39 no-bills in 2008 to 49 no-bills in 2009.

Over the same time period, the total cases presented to a grand jury for that crime remained roughly flat as well.

So the Grand Juries were presented with the same number of cases each year, but were 26% less likely to find them believable than under Rosenthal.

Was it a massive change of the culture at the DA’s office? Were the citizens that made up these Grand Juries beginning to realize the corruption they had been permitting? What changed, and how can we fucking live with ourselves without at least a small review of WHY?

http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/jlg01

http://www.khou.com/news/harris_county_grand_juries_reject_increasing_number_of_criminal_cases-93376954.html

The Question

The question is not why would they lie; the question is, did they lie.

Despite the assurances from professionals and law enforcement that ‘people don’t lie about abuse’, the exonerations just keep stacking up.

Montgomery County:

Robert Wayne McCulloch was convicted in 2000 of Aggravated Sexual Assault of a Child. His adult stepdaughter apparently made a believable case to the police, a Grand Jury, and finally a regular trial jury that he had assaulted her ten years before, when she was a child. The jury sentenced him to 10 years probation, and McCulloch stayed out of trouble. He stopped associating with friends and family, lost a successful business, a girlfriend, everything. He withdrew from life to keep out of prison.

Early this year his accuser came to his house and apologized; asked forgiveness and recanted her story. The Montgomery County DA’s office began the process of vacating his conviction, which will allow him to be a normal person once more, if that’s even possible after living so long with a false conviction.

It can be hard to prove a crime happened ten years ago, even with some amount of physical evidence. How the hell was this woman able to convince three groups of people (who are ostensibly seeking only justice) to convict a man of an old, imaginary crime with no evidence of any kind?

Knowing what we do, that the innocent are imprisoned for this type of crime more often than anyone wants to believe, we need to demand a higher standard of proof. Not just for the protection of the adults involved, but also for the children who accuse them.

Imagine for a moment, growing up knowing that you had put your father, brother, or uncle in prison for the rest of his life because of a lie that, as a child, you barely had the capacity to understand? Imagine the damage done to the relationship with the adult who, perhaps unknowingly, helped encourage and coach you in a lie? What does that do to a person’s psyche, their outlook for future relationships?

Why do people lie? It doesn’t really matter; the fact is that they do, and knowing that should encourage us all to be a little less gullible when it comes to accusations of sexual abuse.

http://www.yourhoustonnews.com/cypresscreek/living/judge-overturns-conroe-man-s-child-sex-assault-conviction/article_3398e9e4-04b0-11e1-87a7-001cc4c03286.html

Weekend Reading 20

I got a great comment yesterday. Ulisses asked "Would you go to pats office personally to try to get information if i helped fund your trip?"

I really can't articulate how awesome it is when people believe so much in what we're doing that they are willing to put up money to support the movement. Several people have offered financial support, and encouraged me to 'monetize' the blog (allow advertising) to help pay for everything.

The truth is I would not feel right about making money, even to help pay for documents or travel, on the back of injustice. I just can't do it. This has to be done right, independent of any suspicion of financial gain. I don't want anyone to be able to say "Look, there's money involved; you just can't trust someone who's making a living off this!"

That's why I don't sell shirts or stickers, why I don't have my own domain name. Blogspot is free, and right now that's a price that works for me. The time I spend writing, reading, thinking and stressing over this...There's no hourly rate for that. I do it because I believe that Carlos Coy got screwed by a justice system that I trusted implicitly for a long time.

By my years of inaction I was basically giving them permission to do whatever the hell they wanted, because I thought they would do the right thing. Well, I finally figured out that they weren't, and I feel betrayed and extremely pissed off. It's not just Harris County...this bullshit is more widespread than I had ever imagined. Coy's case is well known, and I believe will generate the kind of publicity needed to encourage wide-spread change in the system. There are may be hundreds of men serving time for crimes they did not commit but Coy VS Texas will, I hope, be the key to unlocking them all.

Regarding going to Houston; I've thought about it quite a bit. At this time, there's no identifiable benefit. Pat Lykos probably would not meet with me, since I have no connection to the case. I'm not family, not a friend, not a lawyer. There's nothing I could say to her in person that I can't say in a letter. If I thought I could get ahold of certain documents by asking for them in person I would, but all that is being protected by the Family Code; none of it is available to us.

So for now, I'll keep writing. When the DA's office starts acting on this, if it will help for me to go down and discuss it in person, please believe I will be there; if I have to walk my ass up to Houston, I will. If you, like Ulisses, would like to contribute, please do it by talking with people; writing letters to the DA asking for action on the case; spread some flyers around. Buy some Dope House CD's for that friend of yours that prefers to download music instead of paying for it.

I appreciate all the support and kind words from all of you. In one of his letters SPM said "I want to thank you for caring...and then acting on that care, which action makes feelings sincere."

Please, don't be afraid to act on your feelings; let the DA and your friends know that you support Carlos Coy, and you want to see this shit re-examined.

South Park Monster (Part 4)

Lomax continues with South Park Monster, page 8:

“After sharp questioning about crack dealing and other crimes, he was confronted with the obvious: How could eight young females be wrong in their belief that he molested them or worse?”

Lomax never allows the reader to consider the question of whether or not they’re LYING. He only asks how they could be WRONG. Were they wrong? We don’t know. Obviously the DA’s office didn’t feel confident enough about any of these cases to actually take them to trial; they simply trotted out these witnesses after Coy was found guilty to try and get him as much time as possible.

Why would eight females lie? The answer, I believe, is as simple as the question “Why would one female would lie?”

Some time after Coy was arrested the first time and released on bail, a 14 year old girl came forward and said that during this time he had driven her and a friend to a hotel and she had sex with him. This assertion is presented as truth, with as many lurid details as the author can get ahold of. But no mention is made of the interesting back story, which was made public by the Houston Chronicle two months before Monster was written; ample time for Lomax to discover it & use it if he was interested in presenting a more balanced view of the case:

“A court document filed Monday by defense attorneys Lewis and Mike Ramsey said the girl's medical records show she had Chlamydia at the time of the alleged assault and that Coy has never had the disease. The girl said Coy was not using a condom during the sexual encounter, according to the document.

Coy's lawyers also said in the document the girl had previously tried to extort money from their client, had been diagnosed as bipolar and had been expelled from school for repeated disciplinary violations.

Lewis said the girl had repeatedly contradicted herself.”

So why would she lie? No one can know the specific reason, but if the document filed is true, it’s obvious that she did. I don’t know if she was one of the women used during the sentencing phase of the trial. Coy had seven indictments against him and a court date was set for all of them on May 3^rd, but by the time the trial rolled around he was down to one.

The point is that there was more to this story. There generally is, and we tend to assume that reporters, of all people, will be interested in gathering up the facts and presenting them all.

http://www.chron.com/entertainment/music/article/Bail-denied-in-case-of-rap-musician-Coy-2091807.php

http://www.houstonpress.com/2002-06-06/news/south-park-monster/

Letter to Pat Lykos 8

It’s the middle of the month, time for another letter to the DA’s office. We’ve seen a little bit of action these past few weeks, but it’s important not to let up; just because someone says they’re going to look into the case doesn’t mean they haven’t consigned it to a drawer somewhere. It’s important to let them know that our interest continues, and that we want to hear the results of the review. This letter is very short, but that’s okay. It serves the purpose of keeping Coy’s case in their minds.

The Honorable Patricia R. Lykos

1201 Franklin, Suite 600
Houston, Texas 77002-1923

Ma’am,

I’m writing today about the case of Carlos Coy, cause #908426.
I received a letter from Mr. Jim Leitner asking for more information in order to comply with my request. I really appreciate your office taking an interest in this case, and I will be glad to see what his investigation turns up.

This case is old, but very important to many of us.

Me, my address, blah blah blah.

Second point of interest:

Houston is hosting the Los Magnificos Car Show November 20^th. That’s this Sunday. If you go, please consider wearing a ‘Free SPM’ shirt, and/or printing out a few flyers to take along. I’ve made some small flyers, about the size of business cards. Don't do anything that’ll get you kicked out, but if you can get information out to the people that care, it will help.

http://www.losmagnificos.wegoweb.org/houston.htm

Weekend Reading 19

I've mentioned before that I couldn't figure out why defense lawyer Mike Ramsey dropped the case before the trial even began...Take a look at this letter about another case, from 2003:

...another theory making the rounds among regulars in the courtroom is that Ramsey has been told to stay out of the spotlight by one of his other clients.

That client would be Enron's own Ken Lay, who apparently doesn't want to be associated with cross-dressing murderers. He also reportedly wasn't happy when Ramsey was initially out in front defending rapper South Park Mexican on child-molestation charges.

Scroll down to 'We're all in this together' for the full letter.

http://www.houstonpress.com/2003-11-06/news/a-hard-on-for-numbers/

This is what Ramsey had to say about Coy in 2001:

Coy's attorney Michael Ramsey said the rapper is "absolutely not guilty" of the charges.

"The mere allegation is bad," Ramsey said, "but he has got a positive attitude. He believes the system will work, and he believes he will continue to deliver the message he has delivered. I think you'll find he has deep religious faith that things will turn out all right. He's an upbeat fellow, and I'm proud to represent the guy."

http://www.chron.com/CDA/archives/archive.mpl/2001_3356890/legal-troubles-dog-local-rap-star-sex-allegations.html

Dale Lincoln Duke

Way to go, Dallas!

In 1992, Dale Lincoln Duke was convicted of Aggravated Sexual Assault of a Child. He pled ‘no contest’, which means that he waived his right to a jury trial, allowing the judge to decide his fate. ‘No contest’ is not an admission of guilt, but it seems like people know that pleading ‘Not Guilty’ is just going to piss off the prosecutors and judge and make them try to stick you with as much prison time as they can.

Because he didn’t plead ‘Not Guilty’, the court decided to go easy on him and give him 10 years deferred adjudication, which means he remains free as long as he goes through ‘sex offender treatment’. But because he refused to say “I did it”, eventually he failed the ‘treatment’ and got sent to prison in 1997...

And there he stayed for 14 years. Even though, a year after he was incarcerated, the child recanted her testimony, admitting she had lied. Her recantation was ‘found credible’ by a co-founding member of Dallas CAC, but was rejected by the District Court, the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals AND the Supreme Court. Three opportunities to right this situation were ignored.

Mr. Duke would still be a guest of TDCJ if, in 2010, his defense had not uncovered evidence that the girl’s own grandmother had told prosecutors, before he ever entered a plea, that she believed the girl had been encouraged to lie by her Aunt. The prosecutors had this information at the beginning of the case but decided that they would not reveal it to the defense. Now remember, they came to the DA’s office in 2010, telling them they knew the information existed, but the official file was not given to them until March of 2011, which makes it seem like, once again, the prosecutors fought against having it made public.

Finally, November 4^th of this year, Mr. Duke was exonerated and released. There was no DNA evidence used to clear him, which is unusual; how many men like him have been convicted with nothing more than words, but have no hope of ever seeing their cases reversed because the prosecutors simply didn’t make a record of any evidence that didn’t support their case?

There’s no way for us to know if the child in Coy vs. Texas ever recanted her testimony; no way for us to know if there is evidence suggesting her testimony was not truthful. Remember, everything the prosecutors used to build their case, all the evidence they collected, even if it would clear Coy, is hidden behind the Family Code. We’re not allowed access to witness statements, notes that were made, any of it. We are just supposed to trust a system that has proven, time and time again, that it has no problem with incarcerating an innocent man as long as the prosecutor in the case gets another win.

Interesting things are happening all over; now is not the time to lose hope or give up.

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5jyLMbUbSOarTtEUZWxMtsfAHTTwQ?docId=1900fd26ca9f47bc932a655e0c729dfa

http://blogs.dallasobserver.com/unfairpark/2011/11/tomorrow_dallas_da_craig_watki.php

New Case Update #3

Alright, according to the Anderson County '10/19/2010 Precept To Serve' page 2, Coy is accused of posessing a 'Copenhagen TR 454 digital video player and audio recorder'.

That would be this : http://www.digitalkitchenstore.com/ta-454.html

A list of features:

·                            Dimensions: 1.5 in. x 3.0 in. x 0.75 in.

·                            1.5 inch true color screen

·                            Movie function

·                            JPEG photo scanning

·                            FM radio

·                            FM recording

·                            Voice recording

·                            Built-in speaker

·                            Navigator

·                            Setup languages

·                            Lyrics display

·                            Memory card: 1GB SD

Letter from Jim Leitner

I'm going to take a break from 'South Park Monster' to let you know about a few things that are happening right now; I'll continue it probably next week. I got another letter from the DA’s office. This one is from the 1^st Assistant District Attorney, Jim Leitner. His letter is very short; he says:

Dear Incandesio,

We are in receipt of your letter but need more information such as Carlos Coy’s date of birth or case number in order to process your request.

Sincerely, etc

I’m a little baffled by this. On the one hand, the easiest way to stall someone is to ask them for information. You give them something to keep them busy (go get me numbers!) while you buy yourself time. Obviously if Mr. Leitner really wanted to, he could find Coy’s case number and birthdate.

On the other hand, at least one of my letters found it’s way to the 1^st Assistant District Attorney. That’s gotta be a positive development. Also, in his letter, he requests the information so that they can ‘comply with my request’, which is probably my request for a review of Coy’s case.

My suspicious nature suggests that they're just trying to keep me busy so I'll leave them alone, but who knows; maybe getting a review really is that easy. I've written a letter thanking him for his time and providing him with the information he requested. I guess we'll see what happens.

1st Assistant District Attorney Jim Leitner

1201 Franklin, suite 600

Houston, Tx 77002-1923

Sir,

I was very pleased to receive your letter, and I appreciate you taking a look at Carlos Coy’s case. I have included his date of birth and the cause number; you also requested the case number but if you mean the number used by the investigative agency (HPD, in this case), I believe it is unavailable to me as a member of the general public. However, I also included the O/R number, from a public document available online.

 I know that your job is a demanding one, and I thank you for taking the time to look into this matter which I believe has been neglected for too long. As you probably know, the Dallas County DA’s office has recently exonerated two men convicted of similar crimes based on faulty or incomplete evidence. It is very encouraging to me that Harris County is willing to dig into the past and consider cases which some would prefer to see abandoned. Thank you again.

Coy vs. Texas cause number #908426

Carlos Coy’s date of birth: Oct 5, 1970
O/R Number #120362501

Me, my address, blah blah blah

As always, now is a great time for you to write, and I appreciate letters in support. If they are just toying with the idea of reviewing this case, receiving a request from you may be enough to get them to do it.

Let's get this shit done!

Weekend Reading 18

In 1997, Dale Lincoln Duke was incarcerated for Aggravated Sexual Assault of a Child. He was sentenced to 20 years.

"Prosecutors who reviewed files involving Duke’s case found that the witness’ grandmother raised concerns about her original testimony. There was a feeling that the witness was encouraged by her aunt to accuse Duke of sexually assaulting her. This evidence should have been shared with Dukes’ defense attorney but was not."

As of this morning, he's a free man. Never lose hope.

http://blogs.dallasobserver.com/unfairpark/2011/11/tomorrow_dallas_da_craig_watki.php

http://www.pegasusnews.com/news/2011/nov/04/dale-duke-exonerated-1992-dallas-sexual-assault/

Letter to Pat Lykos 7

The DA’s office is under investigation by a Grand Jury RIGHT NOW. I’ll post more about that next week; if you haven’t been following the story, here’s the basics. The Blood Alcohol Testing vans (BAT vans) have been giving wrong results for years and the DA’s office not only covered it up, but prosecuted cases with this faulty evidence

Lykos is flying in from Hawaii to deal with this cluster fuck; if you have ever considered writing a letter, please write one today. While everything is in upheaval, she might be willing to re-consider SPM’s case just to take a little heat off her own administration. Even if it’s only a few lines, let her know we’re paying attention.

To the Honorable Pat Lykos

1201 Franklin Street, Suite 600

Houston, Texas 77002-1923

Ma’am,

I’m writing today about the case of Carlos Coy, TDCJ# 01110642.

I have been following the 185^th Grand Jury case with interest. Although it’s not exactly easy to understand what’s going on, I believe that prosecutors from your office may be in trouble for using false evidence to pursue DWI convictions, and that they have gone against a judges’ order to obtain secret transcripts from the Grand Jury proceedings.

Unfortunately, it is easy for us to assume the worst about the intentions of the DA’s office. We have seen time and time again aggressive, questionable prosecution methods used to convict innocent men. The thought of something so universal and common as a breathalyzer test resulting in a wrongful conviction is horrifying. People who may not be able to imagine themselves on trial for murder or rape, can certainly see themselves as the victim of faulty equipment.

Now would be a wonderful time to show the public that the DA’s office is not afraid to revisit previous convictions, not afraid to release those imprisoned by lies. Please, consider reviewing Coy vs. Texas, and recommending a new trial for a man who was convicted on testimony that was shaky, at best.

Me, my address, blah blah blah

I can’t stress this enough, people; NOW is the time to write.

New Case Update #2

It looks like Anderson county  finally got their records online; you can view the document here.

Not much here we didn’t already know, he’s being charged with a felony, pled not guilty, etc etc. The last date on that list is "11/01/2011, PRE-TRIAL/STATUS". I'm not sure what that means but I'll see if I can find out.

ETA:
It looks like it might be the pre-trial status conference.

status conference n. a pre-trial meeting of attorneys before a judge required under Federal Rules of Procedure and in many states to inform the court as to how the case is proceeding, what discovery has been conducted (depositions, interrogatories, production of documents), any settlement negotiations, probable length of trial, and other matters relevant to moving the case toward trial.
http://legal-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/status+conference

Maybe this is where they figure out that an MP3 player is not, in fact, a cell phone.

South Park Monster (Part 3)

Carlos Coy has been painted in the media as a serial predator. Someone who has molested girl after girl after girl; the tagline for the article is "Fans saw Carlos Coy as the invincible rapper, the gangsta who could become an icon for outcast Hispanics everywhere. But they didn't know his weakness -- young girls did."

In this article Lomax uses the opinion of Judy Johnson, clinical director for the Texas Department of Criminal Justice's Sex Offender Treatment Program in Huntsville.  She works for TDCJ, of course. Here’s what she thinks:

In general, Coy's past reflects some similarities with profiles of pedophiles, she believes. Most grow up without a strong male figure in their lives;

You can't be convicted of being a pedophile, ‘child-lover’. Coy was accused of being a child molester. It’s a small distinction, but an important one. A pedophile will always be a pedophile; someone who wants to have sex with children. A child molester may be a pedophile, or may have simply lacked opportunity to have sex with grown women, or may have had sex with a child he believed to be an adult. But Judy wants Coy to sound like a pedophile, an incurable pervert, so she starts drawing correlations and making assumptions.

I assume she’s referring here to the fact that Carlos Coy’s father left the family for a period of about ten years. I don’t know why she assumes that there were no strong male figures in his life. He had family, teachers…But okay, no father means you’re a pedophile. You know who else shares the trait of losing a father early in life? Fucking rap stars. Tupac Shakur, Notorious B.I.G., 50 Cent, Sean Combs, Jay-Z.

“A year ago, the Pew Charitable Trust published a report that found that 2.7 million children in the U.S. now have an incarcerated parent.”

Since 93.2% of prisoners are male, most of those kids are growing up without a father. What does that mean for them? Is the government putting them at higher risk of being labeled pedophiles by incarcerating their dads for everything from murder to having a roach in the car? Talk about a self-sustaining system...guaranteeing government jobs generation after generation.

…they can "groom" associates to ignore the obvious signs of their perversion; and serial pedophiles often establish ways -- even dance studios for children -- to attract more potential victims, Johnson says.

"That's very common for pedophiles to create an avenue where they can have one victim right after another," she says. "It's unfortunate, but a lot of predators create their 'candy stores.’

Oh, my God. Someone call Justin Beiber and tell him that he’s doing it wrong. Apparently the way to attract young girls is to produce raw, obscenity laced tributes to the drug trade, murder, and getting blitzed out of your fucking mind!

Who believes this bullshit? There are easier and more direct ways to surround yourself with prepubescent children than working for ten years to become a recognized figure in the underground rap scene, then somehow convincing a woman who swears in court that she doesn’t like you to leave her daughter with you for the night. How about becoming a school janitor, for instance?
Or a prison guard? Is she really trying to say that Coy became a rapper to surround himself with nine-year olds?

… she says that the onset of pedophilia doesn't occur suddenly in middle age, it begins developing much earlier. "They don't say, 'Ooh, she's really sexy, she's really coming on to me, I think I'll just explore this possibility,'" Johnson explains. "The preference was already there. Otherwise, it would have been sort of repulsive."

So where are the other victims? I’m not asking for more teenagers who tarted themselves up to go to a rap concert. I want to know where the other pre-pubescent victims are. According to the Mayo Clinic:

“Heterosexual pedophiles, in self-report studies, have on average abused 5.2 children and committed an average of 34 sexual acts…”

Now these are self-reported studies, so those numbers are probably a little low. According to the Counter Pedophilia Investigative Unit:

A 1994 National Institute of Health survey of 453 pedophiles, conducted by Dr. Gene Abel, showed these criminals were collectively responsible for the molestation of over 67,000 children. That’s an average of 148 children per individual pedophile.

So let’s say that, in spite of the hordes of nine-year-olds who were drawn to him because of his child-luring rap, Carlos Coy was only half as effective as the average pedophile. Then we’ll cut it in half again because he was young when he was locked up, and maybe didn’t have as much time as the reporting pedophiles did. That would have given him 37 victims. Now if he’s a true pedophile, he has a ‘preferential age range’. True pedophiles are not attracted to pre-pubescent AND pubescent children.

If Judy Johnson, TDCJ's expert on Sex Offender Treatment thinks that Coy is a pedophile, there should be 37 more 8 or 9-year old victims out there. All we got, post-sentencing, were the claims of teenage girls, none of which had to be proven, and none of which resulted in a court case. Even the case of the 14 year old who accused Coy of assaulting her after he was released on bail, which should have created some kind of physical evidence, was dropped after the one conviction was obtained.

http://www.usprisonculture.com/blog/2011/10/24/missing-a-locked-up-parent/

http://withoutafather.com/celebrities.php

http://www.cpiu.us/statistics-2/