Reserve Answer from SPM

I want to go ahead and let everybody know that the posting schedule of the blog will be changing, starting in June. I’ll be traveling around this summer, and I’ll only be able to post once a week, on Thursdays.

It’s been awhile since I’ve heard from SPM, so I thought it was time to break out another of the reserve letters. (Read about it here) This is a rough draft of the intro to the book he’s working on; I received it back in September of 2011.

My name is Carlos Coy, a rap artist from Houston Texas, professionally known as South Park Mexican. I’m writing you from a prison located in a small town called Iowa Park, Texas. I was sentenced to forty-five years in a sexual assault case that involved a nine-year-old little girl. I was accused and ultimately found guilty of performing oral sex on this child. The accusations were lies, but with no evidence, except a well rehearsed story, a jury decided to believe I did this.

            I know that just about everybody claims to be innocent these days. And if you’re thinking, “Yeah, right, this dude just don’t want to admit what he did,” I understand. Because, honestly, that’s the same way I would feel if I were you. I used to think like most people, that if twelve Americans find you guilty in a court of law, then, bud, you were guilty. But that’s a fantasy. DAs, cops and even some judges can do a lot of crooked shit when they really want someone behind bars. They can use their powers to make bullshit believable. And when they’re up against a defendant like me, who was taking the whole thing like a pathetic joke, it gives them an even greater advantage.

            But why would a justice system waste their time and effort doing everything and anything to lock someone away even if they knew he was innocent? What made me so special that they’d want to destroy me? Don’t they have enough real perpetrators to worry about? And since we’re asking questions, why would a nine-year-old child say I did this horrific thing? And if it wasn’t true, how could she even have known such an act existed? This book is going to answer those questions and many more.

            I’m going to take you to the trial, with the use of the official court transcripts, so that you’ll see, word for word, what was said and done. And if any DA, any judge, any cop or anyone else disagrees with any point I make, I beg you to challenge. Because I’m going to give you the truth, no tricks, no deceptions, just the facts. I’ll be adding my own input and you can take that however you like. But just know that transcripts don’t lie, and my input will be based on what I know and/or believe.

            This book is not just for fans of my music, or enemies who rejoice in my imprisonment. It’s also for people who don’t know who I am, and wouldn’t care less. Because an nnocent man going to prison says one thing, very loudly, “It can happen to anyone.” This book only shows why it happened.

            Another question you might ask is, “Why, after almost ten years, do you finally decide to talk about your case?” I can think of two reasons offhand: First of all, my appeals lawyer made it clear that I must not talk to anyone about anything concerning my trial. They said it would only play against us in the appeal process. I never quite understood that advice but, well, it’s been damn near ten years and I’m still in this hotel where the food is bad, and the “female” residents have bigger biceps than I do. So I’m not caring too much about lawyer’s advice right now. The second reason, and probably the biggest reason I’m writing this, came from a visit I had with my older brother, Arthur. He said, “Carlos, I think we should release a detailed article explaining the facts of your case. People need to see what happened.”

            I said, “Why?”

            He said, “Because our fans are getting ridiculed by people who don’t know the facts.”

            “My fans choose to suffer with me.”

            “Yeah, but they don’t know how to respond.”

            “Respond to what?”

            “The hatred, bro. I read people’s comments on the internet. It’s a war pout there.”

“Whoever thinks I’m guilty can fuck themself.”

“I understand, but you’re leaving the fans to deal with these people with no ammunition.”

            A week later my brother sent me a printout of a guy who said this on our website, “All you fucking shitbacks are defending a child molester. You fucking wetshits are pathetic.”

            I’m guessing wetshits and shitbacks are the new words for wetback. I don’t know, you’d have to ask him. Of course he forgot to mention the honkies, negroes and gooks. They love me, too. One fan responded, “Fuck you, I don’t care what he did. I liek him for his music.”

            Reading that broke my heart. I was like, What you mean you don’t care what I did?!!

            I wrote my wife and asked her to send me all my court transcripts, for both of my trials, criminal and civil. The criminal trial was where I lost my freedom. The civil trial came next, which was where the child’s family was suing me for money. 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 tohe family “zero dollars.” That happened in the punitive stage which was where I could have lost everything, my company, my home, everything I’d worked for in life. Till this day I’m the number one selling Mexican American rap artist in the nation. Because there was no cap on the amount, the jury could have given them anything under the sun. Instead the snakes came up short and walked out of that courtroom with their heads hung low. It was a taste of vindication and a huge victory but what happened in civil court doesn’t change the verdict I received in Criminal Court. They’re two separate arenas. So even though my company remains unscathed, I remain caged.

            Still, some of the things that happened during the civil process can help with my appeals. For example, the little girl’s story made a significant change. In criminal trial she testified that the assault took place “for about a minute.” During her civil deposition, she told my lawyer, Brock, that it was only for a second. Brock asked again and she was clear that it happened for “one second.”

            I believe her story changed because she had a heavy conscience. In other words, she felt that by saying it only happened for “one second” made it less of a lie. Or she could have simply forgot what she said in criminal court. During the civil trial, the DAs weren’t there, helping the family prepare, rehearsing the story with them like they were in the criminal trial. The DAs only interest was to lock away SPM. But when it was time for the family to get their part of the deal, they were left out to dry.

            The fact is I didn’t do this shit for one second or one half a second. I guess I’m supposed to have thrown my whole life away to do some sick shit for one second. No, my friend, and you’re going to see shocking truths, and the disgraceful actions of people who we’ve been taught to trust.