Letter to Pat Lykos 16

First post of the month, time for another letter to the District Attorney. If you’re new to the blog, let me explain what this is. Twice a month, I write a letter to send to Pat Lykos, bringing up issues we’ve uncovered in this case. I encourage you to do the same; you can write your own letter, or simply copy mine and send it out, or print out one of the flyers available for download under ‘Links’ in the sidebar to your right.

One letter by itself is easily ignored; many letters require action, and I hope you’ll consider helping us with this.

The Honorable Patricia Lykos

1201 Franklin St

Houston, Tx

77002

Ma'am,

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

I learned recently about Taint Hearings, the practice of reviewing forensic interviews in cases involving charges of Sexual Assault of a Child. If the accused can provide ‘some proof’ that the interview was slanted, coercive, or in any way biased, they are entitled to have the courts look into that interview. As I am sure you know, children can easily be misled by well-meaning adults into making or embellishing false accusations.

As you may also know, the child in Coy vs. Texas was first interviewed at a Houston police station, by Officer Heidi Ruiz. At this time, she stated that Coy had touched her. Inexplicably, the recording equipment malfunctioned during this interview.

Also at this time, the child’s mother was asked to give a statement, even though she had previously filed a crime report with an Officer David Milligan. This second statement was judged by Officer Ruiz to be incoherent and badly written, and was discarded

Nothing from this encounter was written down or recorded, and it wasn’t until another interview that the child made the accusation that Coy had licked her. How could this interview be objectively examined for taint (to find out why the child’s story changed so drastically) when no record of it survived? How could it be acceptable for the interviewer herself to testify in court that the interviews were identical?

Surely this sloppy example of evidence gathering is not standard practice for HPD. Please, consider looking further into this issue, and giving us a review. Not just for the sake of Mr. Coy, and his family, but for a little girl that may have been used and manipulated by police and prosecutors; certainly she would not have escaped from that situation unaffected.

Thank you for your time,

Me, my address, blah blah blah.

You can look back through the archives to find more letters, and get some ideas for your own. This is a long-term campaign, and I believe that by consistently bringing our case to the DA's attention, we will get a new trial for SPM. Thanks for writing!