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.