Chuck Rosenthal

Whether Chuck Rosenthal inherited an environment of corruption or put it into effect himself, there is no question that his time in power was riddled with scandal and a horrifying climate of 'conviction no matter what' at the Harris county DA's office. Rosenthal became Harris County District Attorney in 2001, and resigned in 2008, admitting "Although I have enjoyed excellent medical and pharmacological treatment, I have come to learn that the particular combination of drugs prescribed for me in the past has caused some impairment in my judgment."

The racist & pornographic emails found on his official computer, the love letters to his assistant(not to mention her $11,000 raise), the 2,500 subpoenaed emails that were mistakenly deleted, the $400 dollar an hour, tax payer-funded lawyers...Yes, that might indicate some extremely impaired judgment.

http://www.click2houston.com/news/15313713/detail.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chuck_Rosenthal_(district_attorney)#Controversies

Questionable behavior during Rosenthal's term

Brady discovery, based on the case of Brady vs. Maryland, requires that the prosecution disclose material exculpatory evidence to the defense. The D.A. under Rosenthal and his predecessor became notorious for their Brady violations.

"Former Harris County District Attorneys Johnny Holmes and Charles “Chuck” Rosenthal left a deplorable legacy of prosecutorial misconduct involving cases where prosecutors not only withheld clearly exculpatory information but fabricated evidence, including the vivid exercise of perjured testimony, to secure criminal conviction-even in death penalty cases. The administration of these two former district attorneys, which spanned nearly 30 years, was proud of their “win-at-any-costs” philosophy that ultimately morphed into unofficial policy."

http://iowapublicrecordsearch.org/77/no-accountability-for-prosecutors-gone-rogue-2/

Ronald Cantrell, accused of sexual assault of a minor in 2004, plead guilty and accepted a sentence of six years in prison, because ""We were told that the DNA was unequivocally that of Ron Cantrell," Hardeway (Cantrell's lawyer) said. He said Friday he was "astonished" to find out otherwise. He said prosecutors violated their legal obligation to turn over all evidence that might raise doubts about a defendant's guilt.

Cantrell's case is one of 1,300 cases from the Houston Police Department's crime lab which were under review in 2003 because of "lack of training for analysts, insufficient documentation by workers and possible exposure of DNA samples to contaminants."

http://lubbockonline.com/stories/060603/med_060603042.shtml

Houston Chronicle via Prisontalk.com

http://www.prisontalk.com/forums/archive/index.php/t-15111.html

In 2004 at the Children's Assessment Center, the same center that served Jane Doe and her mother in Coy vs. Texas, 800 cases were called into question after an independent review found that a former assessment nurses' methods were "faulty". From the Houston Chronicle:

"The potential problems surfaced after the nurse left the CAC, Rosenthal said, and the district attorney's office asked an independent doctor to verify her work in one case before it went to trial. Rosenthal said he does not know what sparked the concern. But at that point, the office initiated a "peer review" by area doctors of all of her cases. The reviews, he said, included medical records as well as either photographs or videotapes.

"...Rosenthal estimated that physicians have found potential problems in as many as 20 percent of the pending cases."

"...The Houston Chronicle was unable to contact the nurse for comment. Additionally, neither CAC officials nor officials with University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, which has a working relationship with the CAC, returned calls.

"Although not all of the nurse's examinations resulted in the filing of criminal charges, CACe-mails obtained by the Chronicle under the state open records law indicate that she was involved in at least 800 alleged child abuse cases."
"It is my understanding that you are reviewing the 800 cases seen by (the nurse)," reads a Feb. 26 e-mail from CAC executive director Elaine Stolte to Dr. Rebecca Girardet of the Health Science Center and CAC. "Also, there is a special investigator with the District Attorney's office assigned to review the cases brought to him that pose potential problems. Of these, the cases that are disposed of and may have resulted in a guilty plea or sentencing by a jury solely based on the medical findings will be the ones of most concern."

'The Nurse' had not left. She had been tossed out on her ass because of "possible problems with her work."

"McNeese, one of the three UT pediatricians who also work at the CAC clinic, said that last September she, Dr. Rebecca Girardet and Dr. Sheela Lahoti became concerned that Taft placed more priority on collecting evidence for potential criminal prosecution than with making sure the children brought to the CAC were properly cared for."

So what happened after Nurse Taft was placed on paid leave?

"Despite having been removed from the CAC, according to McNeese and Oncken, Taft continued to perform as a sexual assault examination nurse at Memorial Hermann, where she'd been working part time in addition to her duties at the CAC."

"The immediate past president of the Harris County Criminal Lawyers Association said he thinks defense attorneys should be notified in any case handled by the nurse -- whether potential problems have been discovered or not.

"Otherwise it's going to fall on the backs of every defense lawyer who's had a sexual assault case in however many years she (was there) to attempt to follow up individually," said Troy McKinney. "And that's just going to be a disaster."

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/metropolitan/2517366.html#ixzz1Nu2A8000

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/metropolitan/2517366.html

Susan Szczygielski, the examining nurse in Coy vs. Texas, worked in this vicious, conviction-oriented environment at the Houston Children's Assessment Center.


Also in 2004, Medical Examiner Patricia Moore came under scrutiny when her 1999 finding of 'homicide' in the death of a 2 month old baby was reclassified as 'undetermined' by Chief Medical Examiner Dr. Luis Sanchez.
Moore's finding resulted in the imprisonment of the baby's mother, Brandy Briggs, until the Texas Court ov Criminal Appeals threw out the conviction, allowing Briggs to return home *only* five years after her wrongful conviction. At least four infant deaths, classified as 'homicides' by Moore, were reclassified as 'undetermined' under review.

http://medicalmisdiagnosisresearch.wordpress.com/2010/09/18/new-results-of-autopsy-spur-plea/

http://truthinjustice.org/briggs2.htm

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/metropolitan/3546071.html

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/metropolitan/6617198.html?plckFindCommentKey=CommentKey:a60ae77e-9e9c-4ad9-8749-0528f723670b

These are by no means the only injustices that took place under Chuck Rosenthal between 2001-2008, but they are indicative of the aggressive stance that was taken by the DA's office during this time. Refusing to disclose vital evidence, allowing 800 examinations to be improperly conducted before anyone cared enough to intervene, retaining a medical examiner responsible for sending at least four women to prison for child murder without sufficient evidence...Is it any wonder that Coy was convicted and sentenced to 45 years with no physical evidence, on the word of a child and a scorned woman?

How could he have possibly have hoped for justice?

Only 10 years for Agg Sex Assault of a Child PLUS Aggravated Kidnapping?

I'm still re-arranging the next post, so please enjoy the story of Jose Miguel Rodriguez, who kidnapped & raped a 12 year old boy and pled down to 10 years in TDC. He was caught by Heidi Ruiz, the same officer who testified in Coy vs. Texas, 2002.

July 20, 2005 -- The actions of a Houston Police Juvenile Division investigator, Heidi Ruiz, are being credited in the arrest and charges filed against a suspect wanted in the kidnapping and sexual assault of a 12-year-old boy on June 4. The suspect, identified as Jose Miguel Rodriguez (H/m, DOB 2-12-71), is in custody and has confessed to his role in the crime. Rodriguez is charged with aggravated kidnapping and aggravated sexual assault of a child in the 338th State District Court and is being held without bond...

...The boy and his eight-year-old cousin were leaving the Dollar General Store about 3:25 p.m. when they met the suspect in the parking lot. The suspect told the boys he could not speak English and needed someone to order food for him at the McDonald's restaurant across the street at 8320 Broadway. The children agreed to go with the suspect and got into his van. The suspect gave the younger boy money and sent him into the restaurant to order the food. He then drove away with the 12-year-old in his vehicle.

The suspect drove to a secluded area, had the victim disrobe, and then forcibly sexually assaulted him. After the assault, the suspect dropped off the victim at a restaurant on Monroe at the Gulf Freeway. The victim then started walking and got a ride back to his home from a Good Samaritan. The younger boy, after discovering the van and his cousin missing from the parking lot, walked home and told his parents what had happened. The parents called police.

http://www.asishouston.org/Honorees/Honorees2005.htm

I can't find a single article about Rodriguez' ultra-light sentence, but you can see the documents at the Harris County District Clerk's website: http://www.hcdistrictclerk.com/eDocs/Public/Search.aspx

Search under the 'criminal' tab. Make sure you enter his birth date too, or you'll get several hits.

Interview with Sylvia Coy, February 2011

For those of you still looking for news about Dope House and wondering how the family's doing, check out this interview with Sylvia Coy, Carlos coy's big sister, by Jr Smooth Live Radio. Leave a comment, let them know you appreciate the information. Share the link and help keep others informed. We need to bring the corruption of the entire Harris County Criminal Justice System to the forefront of the push to free or re-try SPM. Let everyone know that we have not forgotten!

Listen to internet radio with JrSmoothLive on Blog Talk Radio

The only tool we have to use against the entire Harris County Criminal Justice System is information, and as far as Coy vs. Texas is concerned, once you get past the 12 or so 'official' newspaper articles, there's very little out there. These little bits of information are hard to find so if you have one, please drop me a line so I can display it!

Prosecuters

Okay, here's some information on the D.A. prosecutors in Coy vs. Texas. Denise Oncken, the senior of the two, has been licensed since 1986, Lisa Andrews since 1997. At some point after Coy's trial, Andrews left the D.A.'s office and became a defense lawyer.

In 2009, Oncken was prosecuting a man name Glen Kahlden for the sexual assault of a child. On the eve of the trial, defense lawyers discovered that the prosecution had hidden what might be called a vital piece of evidence; the child, in her original 'outcry' statement, had accused a black man of assaulting her. Glen Kahlden is white.

One of the defense lawyers, the team that found the omission, was named...Wait for it...Lisa Andrews.  I don't know how common the name 'Lisa Andrews' might be, but I can see the whole thing playing out in my head like this: "Check the files VERRRY carefully, Stradley" Andrews says to her co-counsel. "You wouldn't believe how that bitch screwed over 'Los back in the day."
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/metropolitan/6682132.html#ixzz1NIVWgX4j
Now, instead of declaring a mistrial and giving Kahlden's defense team time to form a stronger defense around this new information, Judge Van Culp allowed the trial to continue, ruling that "“There's absolutely no harm that can be shown. There's no grounds for a mistrial.”


No harm? How long had Andrews and Stradley been working on a defense on the assumption that, at the very least, the prosecution could tell a black man from a white one? Also, there is no mention of the very salient fact that Judge Van Culp officially acknowledged that Oncken WITHHELD evidence that pointed towards the INNOCENCE of the defendant. After all, why presume innocence when you can just hide information until you win?

In the article, it mentions that Denise Oncken testified at the Brady Hearing, along with her paralegal. What it doesn't tell you is that the paralegal, Kim Flores, contradicted the testimony of her boss. Shortly after this, she turned in her two weeks notice. A week after this, she was unceremoniously told that that day was her last day on the job, and escorted out of the building.

http://harriscountycriminaljustice.blogspot.com/2009/10/brady-over-reliance-on-open-file.html
http://harriscountycriminaljustice.blogspot.com/2009/11/paralegal.html

How does this relate to Coy vs. Texas?

First of all, it suggests that at the worst the D.A.'s office is hiding information, and at best they're sloppy with due diligence. Since I am not a lawyer, I had to take a closer look at what DD is. Here's what Wikipedia.com (that font of knowledge and misinformation) has to say:

 "Due diligence is also used in criminal law to describe the scope of the duty of a prosecutor, to take efforts to turn over potentially exculpatory evidence, to (accused) criminal defendants."

On Exculpatory evidence:

"Exculpatory evidence is the evidence favorable to the defendant in a criminal trial, which clears or tends to clear the defendant of guilt."

As an example ...

"The police believe the witness's account is not true or the witness is unreliable and choose to not follow up on the lead.
 The prosecutor is obliged to inform the accused and their attorney of the witness statement even if the police doubt the witness's version of events. If they fail to do so, the defendant would have grounds for appeal or for a motion to dismiss."

Remember that last example, because that ties in to statements made by Susan Szczygielski, indicating that although the plaintiff suggested that what had happened was a dream, Szczygielski did not 'explore the option' because she didn't feel it was possible that the event did not happen.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JauIcKPHXbs
At around :46 of the above video, a woman who is either Oncken or Andrews, and either way represents the HCDA , accuses Coy of being "...So vicious, so predatory..."
If the D.A.'s office feels so strongly about what Coy is accused of doing, what was their opinion of Mr. Tony Shore, serial rapist and murderer?

Here's a list of Mr. Shore's crimes, per http://www.tdcj.state.tx.us/stat/shoreanthony.htm

On 09/26/1986, in Harris County, Texas, Shore kidnapped a fifteen year old white female and strangled her to death with a cord. Shored then dumped the victim's body behind a Ninfa's Restaurant.

On 04/16/1992 in Harris County, Texas, Shore kidnapped a twenty-one year old Hispanic female, sexually assaulted her and strangled her to death with a cord. Shore then dumped the victim's body behind a Dairy Queen Restaurant.

On 10/19/1993, Shore entered the home of a fourteen year old female, bound and sexually assaulted her, and strangled her to death. Shore then fled the scene on foot.

On 08/07/1994, Shore kidnapped and sexually assaulted a nine year old female causing her death. Shore then dumped the victim's body behind an abandoned commercial building.

On 07/06/1995, Shore kidnapped a sixteen year old Hispanic female and sexually assaulted her causing her death. Shore then dumped the victim's body in a field.

When they finally caught up with him in 2002 or 2003, it was because of this:
http://www.houstonpress.com/2004-07-29/news/the-killer-next-door/
The girl explained: One night, when Tony's girlfriend was in the hospital, he'd raped her. "I know he's been doing it to [my sister] for years and years," she told her aunt. "I was supposed to mind my own business."
 Gina called her mother. And her mother called police. According to their case file, the girls told California authorities about the abuse and their father's drug use. Sometimes, they said, he even drugged them. Their medical exams showed evidence of trauma. Tony Shore was charged with aggravated sexual assault.

What was the plan to deal with this 'vicious, predatory' man?

"He'd have to register as a sex offender, meet regularly with a probation officer and do community service. But under the deferred adjudication program, he'd have no record of a conviction if he made it through probation without a problem", says Denise Oncken, chief of the D.A.'s child abuse division.

Thanks, Harris County District Attorney's Child Abuse Division. Thanks for locking up a man on the possibly true, possibly dreamed testimony of a child, while offering a serial rapist and murderer community service. Y'all are doing a bang-up job.

So what happened?
"...his wings were hardly clipped: He was barred from being within 100 yards of a school or day care, but the judge made a special exception to allow him to keep living on East 18th Street -- in a house that overlooks the playground at Field Elementary School. He was also exempted from the rule that barred him from contacting his daughters, according to court records.

Such a light sentence isn't exactly normal, "but it's not outside the norm, either," Oncken admits. When prosecutors have a weak case, she says, their only choice may be to take what they can get.
...though urine tests during Tony Shore's first year of probation twice revealed cocaine, he was never sent to jail.

Finally, the Houston police matched Shore's DNA to a murder in 1998, and every one was very shocked, and Shore was finally locked up.
Coy continues to rot in prison because of a trial with no physical or DNA evidence. Why should we let this stand?

First Things First

The biggest problem with disseminating the information I gather is, where to start?

First and foremost, I'm not associated with Dope House Records. I'm not sure WHO is associated with DHR, because they don't seem to have updated their page since 2009. I don't know Coy or his family. I'm not in the targeted demographics of any underground rap labels.

I don't argue Coy's innocence because as I said, I don't know him. It's something I believe, but not something I can prove. I don't expect Allred to just give him his shoes and show him the door. What I want for him is a new trial. I've gathered information about possible misconduct or corruption of some key figures in his trial; if you read this information and find it even a little bit suspicious, please tell someone. Tell your brother, your friend, or the clerk at the gas station. If you're willing to donate ten minutes of your life, call up the newspaper or local television station and tell them it's been almost ten years since coy was incarcerated, and you'd like them to do a piece on the case.

Let's raise the question and demand an answer; was Carlos Coy tried unfairly?