Temple 2

“There's a 1,300-page offense report detailing the investigation into the fatal shooting of Belinda Temple in 1999. There are audio tapes of witnesses who saw the pregnant teacher at Katy High School on the day she was killed later than previously thought. There's a statement from a teenage neighbor that the Temples' dog, known for its viciousness, would calm down after sniffing him.

Those are three examples of evidence withheld from David Temple's defense lawyers that could have helped him at his 2007 trial, lawyers said Monday, as they called for a special prosecutor to investigate the notorious Katy slaying and the Harris County District Attorney's Office.”

I wrote about the Temple case a couple of weeks ago, but did not realize the sheer amount of evidence withheld by the D.A’s office. This is an excerpt from an article in The Houston Chronicle, which you can read at the link below.

http://www.houstonchronicle.com/news/houston-texas/houston/article/Temple-attorneys-seek-investigation-into-DAs-6382735.php

Letter to Devon Anderson (12)

A quick note; SPM was recently moved to the Ramsay Unit; you can find his new address here: http://offender.tdcj.texas.gov/OffenderSearch/

Time for another letter to the DA! As always, please feel free to write your own, copy this one, or just send out one of the printable flyers to your right. The Honorable Devon Anderson Harris County Criminal Justice Center 1201 Franklin, 14th Floor Houston, Texas 77002

Ma’am,

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

As you are no doubt aware, former prosecutor Kelly Siegler has been much in the news lately. After Judge Larry Gist determined that she withheld exculpatory evidence in the 2007 case of David Temple, lawyers for Howard Guidry claimed that Siegler had done the same thing in their client’s case.

Denise Oncken, the first-chair prosecutor in Coy’s case, had a similar Brady finding held against her in the 2008 case of Glen Kahlden. Kahlden, like Coy, was accused of aggravated sexual assault of a child. It does not seem too far-fetched to imagine that similar misbehavior may have affected Coy’s case.

Carlos Coy has many supporters in Houston and around the world. We urge you to please, review his case. See if the behavior of the prosecutors may have resulted in an unfair trial, and give him and his family justice.

Me, my name, etc  etc.

Brady as Usual

A few times, I have been asked why I post stuff that has nothing to do with Carlos Coy’s case. A big part of convincing people that his trial was unfair is, in my experience, establishing the idea that Harris County’s justice system is fucked.

With that in mind, I’d like to bring your attention to the unfolding saga of Kelly Siegler. A former Harris County Prosecutor, Siegler was famous for a TV show based on solving cold cases, and her role in exonerating Anthony Graves.

A judge recently that she withheld vital evidence from a 2007 case, resulting in an unfair trial for David Temple. Grits for Breakfast highlighted this statement from the ruling "Of enormous significance was the prosecutor's testimony at the habeas hearing that apparently favorable evidence did not need to be disclosed if the State did not believe it was true."

This has nothing, and everything, to do with Carlos Coy’s case. I have long maintained that his case was not unique, that it was not unusual, that it was an example of the Harris County ‘justice’ machine grinding along the way it always has. Stories like this support my belief; Siegler is a part of the system that produced Chuck Rosenthal, Denise Oncken, and Lisa Andrews.

http://www.gritsforbreakfast.blogspot.com/2015/07/cold-justice-years-old-brady-violations.html

http://www.statesman.com/news/news/state-regional/new-trial-recommended-for-houston-area-man-impriso/nmtmz/

http://www.houstonpress.com/news/judge-says-ex-prosecutor-kelly-siegler-withheld-evidence-in-david-temple-case-7573860

http://www.chron.com/news/houston-texas/article/Prosecutor-tells-how-Texas-death-penalty-case-1704404.php

Independence Day Week

No post today; I hope everybody had a great 4th of July.

Board Appointment

Here is some truly cool news via Grits for Breakfast: an exonerated former death-row inmate has been appointed to the board of the Houston Forensic Science Center. There’s a video here:

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/crime/exonerated-death-row-inmate-appointed-crime-lab-article-1.2273984