Weekend Reading 78

I wrote to ask SPM about the above video clip that a blog reader was curious about; here's what he had to say:

"You said a kid named Salvadorboy13 asked about a cameo I did, and the movie was called "The Dirty 3rd." That movie was an H-town classic. The one that I was on, was Part 1, but they also made a part 2.

You can read a synopsis of the movie by the New York Times here: http://movies.nytimes.com/movie/203050/The-Dirty-3rd-The-Movie/overview

...And it looks like you can purchase it through Amazon here: http://www.amazon.com/The-Dirty-3rd-Movie/dp/B002RVZVCW

Letter to Devon Anderson 1

Well, I’ll be damned. It looks like Mike Anderson’s widow, former judge and prosecutor Devon Anderson, has been appointed the interim DA. Apparently this kind of thing is not without precedence, and Anderson is obviously qualified for the job; so, we can finally resume our letters to the D.A.! As always, please feel free to write your own, copy this one, or just send one of the printable flyers to your right.

The Honorable Devon Anderson

1201 Franklin St

Suite 600

Houston, Tx 77002-1923

Ma’am,

            I’m writing to you today about the case of Mr. Carlos Coy, case number 908426.

You may not be familiar with his story, as his trial was over ten years ago. Coy was, and still is, a highly visible fixture of Houston’s thriving underground rap scene. In 2002, he was convicted of Aggravated Sexual Assault of a Child and sentenced to 45 years in prison.

            There was never any physical evidence in the case, nor even any attempt that I can find to collect any. His accuser’s claims changed over time, and were inconsistent and hazy even in the courtroom. The testimony of those called to support her accusation were likewise confused and contradictory; the first written statement, and even the video interview were discarded and then re-done days later at the embattled Children’s Assessment Center.

Ma’am, you have spent years as a prosecutor, a judge, and a defense lawyer; your commitment to the city of Houston is unquestionable, and I have no doubt that you have seen all sides of the criminal justice system. If you were to look into this controversial conviction, I believe you would see even more problems with the case than I have outlined here.

            There are many of us who would like to see him granted a new trial, or at least to have someone look into the first and find out how a man could be convicted of such a heinous crime with such flimsy evidence. We are trying to make the public aware of how such a low standard of proof threatens all of us, no matter our background.

Please, take the time to look into this case; give us justice.

Me, my name, etc etc etc.

http://www.hg.org/attorney/anderson-and-thomas-pllc/58095

http://www.chron.com/news/politics/texas/article/Widow-of-Mike-Anderson-appointed-new-Harris-4839376.php?cmpid=hpbn

http://abclocal.go.com/ktrk/story?section=news/local&id=9258759

http://www.chron.com/news/houston-texas/houston/article/Harris-GOP-wants-widow-to-replace-Anderson-as-DA-4836968.php

Texas Court of Appeals Update

Grits for Breakfast has an extremely cogent synopsis of big changes coming to the Texas Court of Appeals; three judges, Tom Price, Cathy Cochran and Paul Womack, have announced that they will not be seeking re-election this year.

Texas Weekly’s Brandi Grissom mentioned it as well:

"The three judges, she said, have often been in the majority on the recent opinions with a consistent trend toward opening up cases that would otherwise have been closed in light of new scientific developments.

"A number of those decisions could have gone the other way" without those three judges on the panel, Laurin said."

This is important; these are middle-of-the-road judges, for Texas; whichever group replaces them is going to have a huge impact on future appeals. We could get some reasonable, personal-liberty loving judges, or we could see Judge Keller’s statist gang expand.

2014 is still a ways off and the elections may seem too big, to untouchable for you to be involved in; that’s not the case. We have to raise awareness of what’s been going on, what continues to go on in Texas’ justice system. Please, take a minute to talk to your friends, your family, your neighbors, about how this election may one day impact Carlos Coy’s case directly. I’ll try to post more info about whoever throws their hat into the ring, but I can’t get people to go vote; only a concerted effort by those of us that give a shit can do that.

Please, get involved.

Weekend Reading 77 (Part 2)

If you haven't already downloaded The Poor Kids, head over to Dope House's Soundcloud page and do that now!

Also, if you liked Juan Gotti's Letter to SPM, check out SPM's response, Dear Brother; written by SPM, rapped by Juan Gotti, produced by Pain Ortiz.

Weekend Reading 77

Facebook, in it's eternal quest to piss me off, has completely removed the 'question' app, or buried it so deeply that I can no longer find it; please vote for a question to send in in the poll to your right.

You may already be aware of the lawsuit and criminal charges against Harris County Deputy Constable Jimmy Drummond for the vicious beating of a handcuffed man, along with his mother and father, over a minor traffic violation; if not, you can read about it here.

Cognitive Bias

Grits For breakfast had an interesting link to a study done on cognitive bias; psychologists were hired to give their opinion on the likelihood that certain defendants, accused of sex crimes, would re-offend. Those that were told they were being paid by the prosecutors tended to assess them at a higher risk; those told the defense had hired them assessed at a lower rate.

It would be fascinating to see how these numbers match up to known recidivism rates of those convicted of sex crimes, but none of the articles available seem to go into that much depth. It was a small study, but it underscores what common sense indicates; that objectivity is subjective. Since both the defense and the prosecution are going to generate a bias in their experts, that they would be evenly matched, but only if you ignore the basically limitless resources of the State pitted against one individual.

The Prosecutors are not spending their own money; their lives and earning ability are not disrupted by criminal charges; they’re presenting cases to judges who, generally speaking, were prosecutors at one time as well, in front of a jury that’s likely to hold those involved in the justice system in a position of sainted reverence.

It would be interesting to know the degree of this cognitive bias in individuals who are regularly involved with prosecution; does the bias against the opposing side grow with prolonged association? Fiona Stephenson springs instantly to mind, the social worker who assessed the child in Coy vs. Texas;  in an article about the Children’s Assessment Center way back in 1998 she stated,

"...it affects their adult lives forever -their marriages, personality disorders, alcohol and drug abuse. When you hear about somebody that’s got multiple problems, you can always count on the fact they’ve been sexually abused..."

"...There are days you feel everyone in the world is doing this to their kids. You have to remember that we're here and we're helping."

http://airwolf.lmtonline.com/news/archive/031698/pagea3.pdf

Questions for SPM

Got a question for SPM? Send it in to the blog Email address below; next week I'll post four of them on Facebook and you can vote for the one you think should be sent in!

Also, it looks like Sylvia Coy will be opening up Coy Urban & Smoke October 5th, SPM's birthday; thanks to Angela for the tip!

Rest in Peace, Mike Anderson

Mike Anderson, the Harris County District Attorney,  has died.

My prayers go out to his family; it seems like he had a lot of roots in the community, and a reputation as a good man; I believe he will be missed.

Since there will be no letter this week, here are a few things I’ve been mulling over since I heard the news. I’d love to know your thoughts:

Pat Lykos, the incumbent, was a republican. She had made inroads into the ‘good’ol boy’ culture at the DA’s office, and seemed to have been cleaning it up.

Mike Anderson was also a republican.

My question is, why would the Harris County Republican Party run a deathly ill man to oust a sitting republican? I don’t believe Pat Lykos was polling particularly badly, so why take the risk? I don’t get it...

Now granted, Anderson’s cancer wasn’t made public until May of 2013; it may be that it was only discovered after the election; however, the articles below mention that he was in hospice care when he died. They knew it was coming, but nobody made a peep.

Anyway; Gov. Perry is expected to appoint an interim DA soon, The DA’s seat will be back up for grabs in 2014.

http://offthekuff.com/wp/?p=55586

http://www.click2houston.com/news/houstonians-mourn-death-of-harris-county-district-attorney/-/1735978/21749544/-/owtirqz/-/index.html

http://www.yourhoustonnews.com/tomball/news/harris-county-district-attorney-mike-anderson-dies-from-cancer/article_b02d54da-1292-11e3-8c50-0019bb2963f4.html

http://www.chron.com/news/article/Harris-County-DA-Mike-Anderson-dies-4777659.php