How can we be sure?

I got some great questions from a commenter, and I want to go through them one by one and answer each, but first I want to point something out; most of these questions can be boiled down into one: How can I be sure Carlos Coy is innocent before I give him my support?

My answer to that is, and always will have to be, you can’t.

No one will ever be able to prove, with 100% scientifically verifiable positivity, that he did not commit this crime.

At the beginning of the blog I hoped that there was some kind of ignored or hidden physical evidence that could answer the question definitively, but according to the DA’s office and Coy himself, there is none. Nothing that could prove him innocent, and nothing that could prove him guilty.

At some point, you’re going to have to make a judgment call; You’re going to have to weigh what you know about Carlos Coy the man against what you know about the Harris County justice system. It’s pretty obvious what conclusion I came to, but your decision rests with you and no one else.
I believe Coy is innocent, but I don’t argue his innocence. I argue the justice of his trial. The points I make could be made just as well by someone who believed that he was guilty, but who still wanted to see justice in the justice system. I believe that Harris County screwed up big time, in thousands of cases, over many years. Whatever you think about Carlos Coy, I don’t believe any reasonable person can say that I’m wrong.

Hey, Incandesio. I just got a few questions I hope get cleared up, first off I am a huge SPM fan and advicate for his innocense, but I still have some doubts concerning the case. First, is it possible that the court is holding back evidence and or important details about the case that the public is not aware of? It seems like all you show in this blog are documents expressing his innocence, but there has to be some that make him look guilty.

We know from the response of Baldwin Chin that, according to the DA’s office, “In Mr. Coy’s case, there is no physical evidence (like a sexual assault kit) upon which forensic analysis can presently be conducted that would establish Mr. Coy’s innocence.”

But of course there must have been details that made him seems guilty. I’m guessing they were

1) His presence in court (If he’s here, he must be guilty)

2) Testimony (From the girl, the mother, the grandmother, the social worker, the psychiatrist, the police, etc)

That’s why I highlight cases involving the CAC nurse who conducted hundreds of unacceptable interviews on children to make cases for the DA. I point out Officer Ruiz’s “relentless” nature, and cases in which police departments and prosecutors all over the state have lied, hidden evidence, and fought tooth and nail to convict innocent men; they illegally conceal evidence that would provide proof of innocence, they ignore witnesses that don’t support their case, and they encourage children and adults to lie to get convictions.

And when the judge said that theres one thing hes learned about sex offenders, its that their all liers, i really believe that statement is true. Sexual offenders will cover up what they have done not just sexually but in life with lies[…]

In my experience, you can’t divide people up into classes and say “THESE people always lie.” For instance, there’s a national organization dedicated to the legalization of fucking little boys. They have a website, they have membership cards. They don’t lie, they come right out and tell you what they want.

The lying baby-raper and the innocent man are going to say the same thing: I didn’t do it. If you want to believe he’s guilty because he says he’s innocent, go ahead. It’s a moronic argument, but there’s no law against willful stupidity.

 if you are basing your arguments with Carlos's word, i dont think its very strong. Hes already in prison, if he lies its not like his prosecutor will come and prove wrong his lies wrong on this blog, they could care less they already won.

If you read the blog, you’ll find that very few of my arguments are based on anything said by Carlos Coy. I use newspaper articles, court documents, and whatever else is relatively verifiable. I'd never come into contact with Coy until several months after I began writing about him. I started because the situation seemed wrong, obviously wrong, and neither Coy nor anyone connected with him made me see that.

The case the prosecutors made is the wall that keeps Coy imprisoned. If they did a good job then it will answer any argument I could make because they will have removed all reasonable doubt of his guilt. Unfortunately, we're not allowed to examine the case to see how it holds up. The government chooses to hide what the wall is built from.

The only thing Carlos has now is his friends, family, and fans, and the only way to keep all them is by lying about what he did.

This not a question; this is two assumptions (He’s guilty, and he’s lying) and a supposition (He’s lying to keep his fans), and can't be answered.

Also i want to know how strong the little girls testimony was, i think that the testimony is the biggest part of the case and i do believe that alone even without evidence can make someone guilty.

Testimony doesn’t ‘make someone guilty’…Committing the act makes them guilty. The way our justice system is set up, jurors are only supposed to convict if they have proof ‘beyond a reasonable doubt’…Meaning proof so compelling, so convincing, that they would use it to act on the most important of their own affairs.

If a nine year old girl told you “Bob scratched your car”, would you go kick Bob’s ass based on that?

What if there was actually no scratch anywhere on your car?

What if a policewoman who disliked Bob and was known to her peers as “The Relentless Tigress” locked herself into a room with this little girl for a few hours, unrecorded, before the accusation was made?

What if you find out that the expert witness, who swore that she had no reason to believe that Bob didn’t scratch your car(a testament to the girl's truthfulness & reliability) didn’t know the girl was taking medications for neurological problems, including possible hallucinations?

I could go on with the comparisons, but you see my point. Was the jury presented with evidence ‘beyond a reasonable doubt’ that Carlos Coy committed this crime? Going off what’s available to me, I’d say no.

The difference between this scenario and the case, of course, is that when we think someone has hurt a child, our first instinct is to gut them like a fish. It’s almost impossible for someone, especially a parent, to make an emotionless decision when the well-being of a child is involved. A car doesn’t inspire people to that level of reactionary behavior. Well, most people. I love my car passionately.

I mean cmon shes a lil kid, no normal lil kid wud be able to tell of these sexual acts without it actually happening,

Assuming she didn’t see it on TV, it could have been anyone in her life, a relative, a friend of the family, a caregiver...I’m not saying it’s impossible she was abused, but the evidence currently available to me does not support the state’s case that Carlos Coy was her abuser.

I think if they are coached there testimony wudnt be that real and convincing.

You may think that if you like. If you read the blog, you’ll find examples of children who gave false testimony (the Tony Hall case comes to mind) that was enough to get a conviction, and later proved false. Children have convinced juries that they have been raped with knives, even though there was no physical evidence that it had occurred. If you’re young, you probably don’t remember the day-care sex abuse hysterias that swept the nation in the 80’s and 90’s. Here’s a link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Day-care_sex-abuse_hysteria
 Innocent people have been imprisoned on what seems to be absolutely ridiculous claims.

"When you once believed something that now strikes you as absurd, even unhinged, it can be almost impossible to summon that feeling of credulity again. Maybe that is why it is easier for most of us to forget, rather than to try and explain, the Satanic-abuse scare that gripped this country in the early 80s — the myth that Devil-worshipers had set up shop in our day-care centers, where their clever adepts were raping and sodomizing children, practicing ritual sacrifice, shedding their clothes, drinking blood and eating feces, all unnoticed by parents, neighbors and the authorities."

Do you have any quotes from court from the little girls testimony?

As it happens, I do. I just received the last of a 30-page answer from SPM dealing with the girl’s testimony and how it was shaped by prosecutors. It’ll be up in June.

Again I am a big SPM fan and I want to believe he is innocent, i did not write to argue about the case I really do want you to help me erase these doubts I have.

There is nothing wrong with talking about this case, asking questions, even arguing. How can we get sunlight on the roaches if we don't lift up the carpet?

I can present you with the facts I’ve found, and show you the connections I’ve made, but I can’t take away your doubts. At some point, you’re going to have to look at what you know about Carlos Coy, what you’ve learned about the justice system, and decide what you think.