Recap 7

So, you now have an idea of the environment that Coy was indicted and eventually convicted in; what was he actually convicted of?

 

One count of ‘Aggravated Sexual Assault of a Child’. After all the indictments, the rumors being thrown around, and the allegations made during his trial, he was only ever convicted of that one thing.

 

Many, many people I have come across believe that the ‘Aggravated’ part means he did something especially vicious, but in Coy’s case, it was because the supposed victim was under 14.

 

http://www.statutes.legis.state.tx.us/Docs/PE/htm/PE.22.htm

 

(section 22.021)

 

From the Habeas Corpus:

 

 

While sitting on the bed, [Coy] inappropriately touched and rubbed [the complainant]. After this incident, the complainant left [Coy]’s bedroom.

 

The children eventually entered the daughter’s bedroom. Both children climbed into bed and began watching television. After [Coy]’s daughter fell asleep, [Coy] entered the room, sat on the bed, reached under the covers, and again inappropriately touched her. Eventually, [Coy] sexually assaulted the complainant by causing her sexual organ to come into contact with his mouth. The complainant testified that [Coy] persisted in this conduct for approximately one minute.

 

The complainant did not, after this incident, stay overnight at [Coy]’s home as planned, but returned home. The following morning, she informed her mother what occurred at [Coy]’s home, and the authorities were contacted to investigate the incident.

 

 

http://www.scribd.com/doc/33106215/Coy-Trial-Habeas-Corpus

 

So not only was he never accused of violence but, as we know from Coy’s letters, the child's story changed over time. Initially, she accused Coy of touching her; after the unrecorded interview with HPD Officer Heidi Ruiz, she began to say she was licked for a minute; at the civil trial, it became only one second.

 

You hear a lot about the women brought in to testify against Coy during the sentencing phase of his trial, and as far as I can tell Coy was indicted for each of those allegations, which means that he could have been tried for them, but never was. For all the prosecution’s bluster about getting a life sentence, Coy says: When the DA offered five years for both Jane Doe’s and Jill Odom’s case, I told my lawyer, “I’ll take ten years for my son, but I won’t say I did something that I didn’t do.”

 

http://www.spmaftermath.com/2012/11/spm-responds-part-10a.html

 

 

If they truly believed he was a danger to children, why even offer him that deal? If they believed the young women who brought their stories into court, why did they never pursue those cases? Even the one case that offered proof, that of Jill Odom, was never prosecuted.

 

Maybe there’s another explanation, but from where I’m sitting it just looks like someone wanted to get headlines, and jumped on the most sensational case with both feet, evidence be damned.

Recap 6

In the case Coy vs. Texas, there was no physical evidence used to convict Coy; as far as I can tell, none was ever even gathered. Still, I want to take a moment to talk about the Houston Crime Lab.

Why? Because it’s another tiny window into the larger picture of how the Harris County Justice system worked under Chuck Rosenthal.

In late 2002, a local Houston television station began broadcasting a series on the Crime Lab’s accuracy. After it aired the Houston Police Department, which apparently had NO IDEA what kind if hijinks those wacky lab techs were getting up to, announced they were sending in some independent scientists to investigate. Because, you know, how were they supposed to know the lab was churning out results that were inaccurate? It’s not like a police department has its own detectives…or scientist-supervisors… or employs highly trained individuals whose (ostensible) work revolves around finding truth and investigating everything from murders to bounced checks, right?

Obviously, if your DNA department is producing tainted results, or employing incompetent scientists, or sending innocent citizens to prison for crimes they hadn’t committed, it’s a good thing to get someone unconnected to the department to investigate; but why in hell would you ignore a problem like that for so long that, once the independent experts have made their report, you have to shut the damn thing down?

The problems continue to this day; from the parole-board’s careless drug-testing, to the willful ignorance of the Breath Alcohol Testing vans and their malfunctioning equipment, the hard evidence used to support cases against people like you and me is continually called into question.

I’m not a scientist, I have no brilliant insights into the cause of the problems, or how they could be fixed; but as a citizen whose life one day may be affected by these same shoddy practices, I have to say that I don’t accept this as right, or allowable, or just ‘the cost of being protected.’

If they’re unwilling to correct their own mistakes until a TV station makes a public spectacle of it, why should I believe them when they tell me their social workers are knowledgeable, or their psychologists are experienced? Why should I have any more respect for the testimony of a police officer than the testimony of someone with a financial stake in the case?

 

http://www.innocenceproject.org/news/Blog-Search.php?check=true&term=bromwich&category=&tag=

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Houston_Police_Department#Crime_laboratory

http://www.chron.com/news/houston-texas/article/Hundreds-of-cases-to-be-reviewed-because-of-3525028.php

http://www.chron.com/news/houston-texas/article/HPD-crime-lab-workers-quit-over-faulty-testing-2081382.php

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/08/05/us/new-doubt-cast-on-testing-in-houston-police-crime-lab.html?pagewanted=all&src=pm

http://www.tdcaa.com/node/1283

 

Weekend Reading 56

Alright ladies and gentlemen, I have a shit-ton of material for you this weekend.

First up, a message from Brent Morton, Dope House's social media guru, on some rumors flying around about Carolyn Rodriguez, The S.O.N., and the Dope House Army:

http://www.sonofnorma.blogspot.com/2013/01/medicine-girl-son-release-dh-army.html

A nice young man named Timo swung by the Facebook to talk shit, but ended up helping me out by posting this YouTube footage of SPM's sentencing, and a story done a year or two post-conviction; I'd actually never seen the first one one before, and it was interesting to hear how rehearsed the judge's statement sounds. Obviously he titled it in an effort to piss you off, but ignore that and just really consider how the news reports are phrased, what facts are included and which ones are left out:

 http://youtu.be/WU-cIoNv_A4

http://youtu.be/n-VKTSV_-Ho

For those of you who prefer your sober truths couched in hilarity, check out Cracked.com's post 5 Staples of the Legal System that Statistics Say Don't Work.

Also, take a look at Baby Bash talking in-depth about the case, starting at 9:41 in this video: http://youtu.be/SlJwdI1B6CA

A Human Tragedy

I want to bring your attention to this photo essay by Billy Smith II, entitled ‘A Human Tragedy’. He’s interviewed 24 exonerees from around Texas and, in a departure from the normal flash-in-the-pan news stories, found out how their lives have changed since being wrongfully incarcerated.

http://www.chron.com/exonerees/#src=fb

 

The fact that this appears on the Houston Chronicle website means a lot to me; I think the public is slowly beginning to accept that these stories are all too common. This is a small sampling of exonerees, only 24; read the stories, or watch the videos, and understand that what happened to these men could happen to anyone.

 

I want to applaud everyone that was involved in this project, including the Houston Chronicle for publishing it.

 

Recap 5

We took a look at the overall atmosphere of sex  crime conviction in Texas, and at the District Attorney, now we’re going to look at the boots on the ground. There were two prosecutors in Coy’s case, Denise Oncken and Lisa Andrews. Andrews left the D.A.’s office at some point after the trial and went to work for Chip Lewis, Coy’s defense lawyer.

 

This an excerpt from an article published in 2009, via the Houston Chronicle.

 

Lawyers for Glen Kahlden on Thursday accused prosecutor Denise Oncken of hiding evidence that the child at the center of the case originally said a black man assaulted her. Kahlden is white. “The state has buried evidence,” Kahlden’s lawyer Bill Stradley said in court. “In addition to hiding evidence from the defense, she’s lying to us.”

 

http://www.chron.com/news/houston-texas/article/Harris-prosecutor-accused-of-hiding-evidence-1742910.php

What’s particularly interesting about this case is that the other half of Kahlden’s defense team that discovered the withheld evidence was Lisa Andrews who, more recently, was the driving force behind the recent investigation of the Harris County Probation Department:

 

Through evidence and witnesses, Andrews detailed everything from the probation department's data-entry errors to mislabeling of urinalysis samples to lack of audits and oversight. A super­visor testified it wasn't uncommon to find 3-month-old urine samples stuffed in the back of the fridge, waiting to be sent out like they were freshly collected that day

 

So she’s working for positive change in the system, which is very encouraging. From another article published last year, on the same subject: “"You want to know that there is integrity in the evidence," Andrews said”.

 

Indeed; it makes me wonder what in God’s name was going on at this point in the trial transcript, posted up here.

 

***

 

 

Chip: I have no intent to ask her anything. I thought we cleared this up yesterday when the Court asked the State - - the State called me and unequivocally told me she had seen “Scary Movie”.

 

 

 

D.A. Andrews: That’s what she said to us.

 

 

 

Chip: Well, what are we doing here?

 

 

 

D.A. Andrews: Well, after we talked to her, sent her back to school, we talked to mom.

 

***

Cliffs Notes version: Chip, the defense lawyer, believed that the child, Jane Doe, may have gotten the idea for her accusation from the film Scary Movie. He wants to show it to the jury, so they can see that there’s a scene where Shorty goes eyebrows deep on one of the female characters, and then pops back up. He’s only down there for a second or two, which is pretty much what Jane Doe said Coy did.

 

All of the following happened without the jury present:

Instead of bringing the girl into court, Chip asks the prosecutors to ask her if she’s seen the movie. The prosecutors get back to him that afternoon or evening with the girls answer: “Yes.” The judge agrees that, when someone’s asked “Did you see this movie?” and they reply “Yes”, that means they’ve seen the whole movie. It’s common sense, he says.

 

That night, the prosecutors review the movie, and the next day they inform  the judge that she only saw the first few minutes of it. The judge, reversing his earlier position, backs the prosecution and decides to keep the jury from seeing the film.

 

They bring the child into court, and she swears that she only saw the first few minutes. She describes the whole scenario pretty clearly: where she was, who she with, and exactly what was said when they turned Scary Movie off. She is dismissed from the courtroom.

 

After extensive legal wrangling, Chip manages to twist the judge's arm into a test; have her watch the movie right now, and she can show exactly how much she’s actually seen. The following is from the transcript, after she’s sat and watched some of it:

 

Jane Doe: This isn’t the one I seen at my house.

 

 

 

Judge: That’s not the one you saw at your house? Have you ever seen this?

 

 

 

Jane Doe: Yes.

 

 

 

Judge: Did you see the whole thing?

 

 

 

Jane Doe: Yes.

 

 

 

Judge: So, that’s a problem. Okay.

 

“It’s a problem”, he says. Yes, it certainly was, but not such a big problem that they couldn’t ‘fix’ it with new and different testimony from Mom. So while the jury saw cleaned up, complimentary evidence, that’s not what Lisa Andrews saw.

 

She saw the child say that yes, she’d seen the whole movie.

Then she saw the child’s mother say that no, she’d only seen the beginning.

Then she saw the child testify that no, she’d only seen the beginning.

Then she saw the child tell the judge that yes, she’d seen the whole movie.

Then, in front of the jury, she saw the child’s mother testify that hey, whaddya know, yes, she’d seen the whole movie, but she covered her eyes for all the nasty parts. If you ever saw Scary Movie, you know that's about 95% of the film.

 

Was there any integrity all in this testimonial evidence? Righting the wrongs of others is admirable and inspiring, but does it mean anything without addressing her own past?

 

If this seems at all wrong to you, if it makes you wonder, “How the hell did they get away with that?”, then start here http://www.spmaftermath.com/2012/05/spm-responds-part-8a.html to read Coy’s five-part letter on this subject. The whole story is much worse.

 

 

 

 

http://harriscountycriminaljustice.blogspot.com/2009/10/brady-over-reliance-on-open-file.html

 

http://www.chron.com/news/falkenberg/article/How-one-woman-brought-an-agency-to-its-knees-3829402.php

 

http://www.chron.com/news/houston-texas/article/State-to-investigate-Harris-County-probation-3832324.php

http://www.chron.com/news/houston-texas/article/Probation-agency-s-drug-test-error-ruined-his-3814133.php

Dear Family 10



Family Letter: Protected By Love

1/9/13

Buenos Tardies!

            Well, this will be my first letter of 2013. I hope everybody made it through the holidays in one piece. If you did lose a piece, you can keep it alive by watering it everyday. (And that was my first corny joke of the year! Yay!)

            Incandesio sent me the transcribed version of my “SPM Responds 10.a.” There were some colorful exchanges between you and a few haters, and let me say that your love has always protected me, like a thousand angels. All I ask is that you don’t hate those people. Instead be thankful for the haters, and utilize them to build yourself. Their job is to strengthen the Player Race, so don’t wish them away. If I bought you a ten-million-dollar fitness gym, you would be overwhelmed with joy. Haters are fitness gyms for our inner strength, which is even more important than the outer. They build the most important areas of our lives. Patience, humbleness, forgiveness, compassion which are all fruits of love. Nothing on earth is stronger than love, and nothing is weaker than hate. The fact is that haters don’t know me, and don’t know the truth about my case. No, I wasn’t a good person, and I won’t try to say I was. I know God will judge me for all my sins, and some are terrible. But I know the blood of Jesus will save me. But as far as what the State of Texas wants you to believe, I’ve never been attracted to somebody’s kid. And I’ve never intentionally had sex with an underaged girl. Those are lies, but there’s no doubt I  had a problem. Who else would hurt their beautiful wife by constantly fucking with other women? I broke Gina’s heart a thousand and one times, and I deserve a thousand and one years in prison. I barely knew my own kids because I basically lived in hotel rooms. It was a pathetic smoke, syrup, sex and drama filled life. Of course, that’s acceptable for a gangster rap star. But haters want to believe I’m on some sick shit because it gives them the opportunity to do what they do. They enjoy hurting you and me because inside they hurt. But one of the beauties of our God is that he shows us how to win with the very things that were meant to hurt us. Let them throw their bricks and we’ll build brick houses. Nothing or no one can stop us. All they can do is motivate us to work harder. So don’t deter haters, they have a job to do. I’m not saying you should be their friend, but just don’t hate them. They’re only doing what comes natural. I couldn’t imagine myself hating on another man. It’s far from who I am, and I thank God for that. Hating is a shitty job, but I guess someone has to do it.

            In the past, I’ve set some bad examples for you, like when I defended myself on what Filero said on that Houston Press interview. He knows he didn’t make the beats for Hustle Town. His original crew knows that’s a lie. But I could’ve explained all this without calling him names. The fact is that I love Filero, he was like a brother, and it hurts me that he said what he said. That I didn’t give him proper credits on the album, and that Dope House fucked him over, and that he punched me cause I owed him money. No man (or beast) has ever layed a hand on me without immediate consequences, less the times I was jumped.

            Filero’s actions are a big reason the guys that hang around him all hate me. He has them thinking the worst about a man who did everything he could to help those around him.

            Soon, I’ll write my entire history with Filero, and all the homeboys who were there during my rise. That’s going to be one helluva write-up. It’s been nothing but drama, and what trips me out is some of those dudes are still hating. Gotdamn, I been in prison over a decade, what the fuck else ya’ll want? But I know the answer. They want Norma in a black dress.

            I’ll never forget what Sambo told, back when we were able to write each other. He said, “Los, haters have been here since the beginning. Even Jesus said, ‘They hate me, and they will also hate you’.”

            I love Sambo, and I’m sad that he’s been pulled the wrong direction. As soon as I can get out of High Security I’ll be able to use the phones. I’ll get all this shit straight. What’s funny is that Sambo also told me exactly what I’m going through now. He said, “Los, don’t fuck with these people. They do what they want, when they want, how they want. They’ll have your ass locked in a cell 23 hours a day, with a camera facing your door. Your neighbor won’t even be able to give you a mint stick.”

            And that’s my life, today. As soon as I looked out my door and saw that camera, I remembered what he said. I was, like, “Fuck, why didn’t I listen?” For the last three years I been in this shithole.

            As far as Filero, and his new rap crew, I don’t deserve their hostility; but all my life it’s been the same. Don’t get me wrong, I was kind of an asshole in the world. I didn’t like being bothered by people I didn’t know. And I did fuck every other bitch in the club, so I can understand picking up a foe or two.

“but he da one let his bitch dance on a strip pole,

Now da nigga mad cause she lickin on my dick hole!”

           

            (Sorry, I just had to say that.)

            Still, the fact remains, real niggaz don’t waste their time talking about another man. What the fuck you worried about me for? Go make some gotdamn money, broke-ass bitch! Oops! Let me fix that last line: Earn sufficient income, you financially strained male with female canine tendencies! Ahh, much better.

            Well, I just heard the bell ring so it’s time for the battle between me and Rob D. You guys remember him, right? I already tore the roof off his house once, and now the damn fool is back. Incandesio sent me his newest challenge and it was okay, I guess. But steppin to me is like a butt-naked man, smothered in BBQ sauce, running up to a hungry-ass lion. Still, Rob D has a lot of love, and I certainly love him, which makes me feel even worse about what I did to him. Anyway, I’ll pass it to the announcer:

            And in this corner, fighting out of Screw Town Texas, John Rhymbo, AKA 3-Pac, AKA Snoop Losy Los, AKA “S” to the “I” gotta “P”, AKA The Mothafuckin South Park Jes-We-Caaaaaaaaaan! (And the crowd goes crazy.)

            And in this corner, fighting out of Small Town Texas, Rob D, AKA Justin Other Statistic! (Booooooooooo!) Stop that! Stop that, right now! This man comes in here, knowing his hope and dreams are about to get ripped to shreds, and all you can do is boo him?! You should be ashamed!

            (Gotta love the announcer. I’ll start with Rob D’s letter.)

***

Los,
First off i just want to make it clear bro my flow was for promotion purpous only. It didnt even cross my mind that you would even read it. I was just tryna put myself out there with the real niggas cuz if they on this page showin support to you they gotta have some kinda sense. I've been a dopehouse and spm loyal customer since the age of 13………………. My brothers and closest homeboys all grew up pretty much livin by your lyrics. I'm 26 now and doin the family thing so I've calmed down a lot but I am still doin music and tryna perfect the art. With all of this said tho Los, I feel like I can't back down when the Master himself is calling me to the table bro. Its not every day you get a chance and the privilege to go against the Don himself. So with that said I gotta comeback with my own shit bro ya feel me so here it iz...

***

            Fam,

            I cut out the middle of his letter because it was kind of long. To read the complete version, just ask Incandesio where you can find it. Before I get to his verse, let me answer his kind words.

            Dear Rob,

            Make no mistake of it, bro, your love means the world to me. I write you these few words with all my love and best wishes.

            I’m happy to hear you doing the family thing. There’s no better life. So many people mistake what the definition of rich is. No amount of money or material is more valuable than beautiful relationships. We need money for bills, but don’t think an excessive amount will make you rich.

            You’ll meet people who say different. Money and material means everything to them. That’s because it puts them in shiny things, and that gives them the attention they love. But having a warm heart builds relationships that surround you with real love. Money can’t buy real love, but it buys something fake that many people will settle for. It’s a waste of valuable time, and when you’re on your death bed, you’ll be surrounded by people you should’ve spent that time with. When a person like that dies, the Bible says, “Everything they labored for will fall into the hands of strangers.” Keep investing in your true treasures, bro.

            Now, we shall go to the verse you dared to write. My verse will follow, and let me apologize in advance. I kept hearing people say, “Stop, Carlos! He’s had enough!” But as you know, Cold 40s have to be forty lines long.

Your Beloved Destroyer,

Carlos

***

Rob D’s Verse

"Testimonial 3.0"

"G'd Up From the Feet Up"

My flow wasn't meant to diss or even get your attention
Now I'm sittin here in shock that you showed recognition,
I ain't tryna start plex wit the SP Mex
Im a dopehouse fan I'ma represent,
But I gotta vent, Im'a always write raps,
This is not pretend, watch Rob strike back,
You could be my step dad, hit me wit a left jab,
I'ma wipe up the blood, step back n just laugh,
Pay attention everybody while I clean this up,
Win this round, knock em down wit that uppercut,
I'ma bust a nut, I'm not exaggeratin,
I'm gettin pussy Los while you steady masterbatin,
"Robbie's" graduated, from the school of hard knocks,
Got infatuated that money formed from a rock,
Spittin rhymes like ox, watch, box and cops,
Is this really SP or a fuckin bot?
Its like you've fallen off, you used to go beast mode,
Guess you spendin too much time fuckin wit them weaso's,
I'ma keep it street tho, blowin on a sweet bro,
When I'm done wit this beat change your name to John Doe,
Cuz I murder instrumentals, I hurt em when I spit venom,
I'm learnin so I'ma gettem, no turnin cuz I'ma win em,
Man don't make me fuck around and switch this whole thing up,
I puts it down fo my town and I'm holstered up,
I'm so corrupt, on my dick like nose to butts,
You muh fuckers know wus up when I'm posted up,
You swollen up, don't get hurt bowin up, I'm colder than an eskimo wit some frozen nuts,
You jokin bruh, Rob D you best admire,
I'll crush ya name in this game, make yo ass retire,
I ain't no liar, nigga straight up spittin fire,
Carlos Coy just a toy on my Oscar Myre!
Haha
My apologies Los, I've gotten carried away,
I feel your hand trembling you've got some words to say
Now I'm done today wit yo embarrassment,
Rob D S*T*R there's no comparison...

And that's what you call murder my nigga. (Laughing)
-Rob D-

***

Please, my nigga.

Another Cold 40

“The Goat Talks”

I agree, Rob D, you got carried away,

By six sad men, you gettin buried today

even though I be the murdera, I still show up

they, like, "Look, you killed mijo!" I say, "And, so what."

every relative is cryin but ya chick keep winkin

I'mma fuck while you in the dirt, six feet stinkin

Los deep in the stuffin, got her screamin and cussin

she, like, "Damn, motherfucker, get a penis reduction!"

I appreciate ya love, let me get that straight

but I'll eat the fuckin beans off'a dead fan's plate

testin me is more stupid than a left handshake

I'm the last one to play with, like an ex-bandmate

I got rappers blowin candles tryna wish me away

but the goat talks, what-ch'all wanna nigga to say?

"Just tell'im the truth, Los! The man has nothin!

Rob couldn't get signed by your half-Black cousin!"

Awwright, first of all, give ya frozen nuts

to the crows for lunch, they love Coco Puffs

then you said I'm masturbatin while you gettin the pussy?

when you dress'em in Gucci, you be smellin like sushi

silly rabbit how you cappin on the legend of legends

gotta baby that's seven and been in seg. for eleven

nigga haunted by "ghosts", who keep the plan undercover

even pulled an older bitch, I'mma grandmothafucka

had the joke of it twisted and got twisted for jokin

cause I'm chokin the chicken but you the chicken I'm chokin

Can you guess what I'm slashin, while you gettin this lashin?

it's odd cause the answer to the question's your ass skin

and even though my flow will cost another man's dreams

let it be an ode to those who cross the motherland's streams

On that torturous trail where swolen corpses dispel

the most horrible smell, these are the horrors they tell

They can't afford me to fail, so I record from a cell

I hit my door for a bell, send my award in the mail

see, the Lord let'em nail, a body mortal and frail

But he was born to prevail, the One who bore our betrayal

scourges tore at his shell, his core was poured in The Grail

the story's gory but, well, before the glory is hell

"You forgot about Rob, Los! You wrecked'im so bad,

you got me over here tryna find my Mexican flag!" (lol!)

Los

PS. You got unbelievably

wrecked! Lord have

Mercy!

Recap 4

 

We know that interviews with children are easy to screw up; children can be led through malice or over-enthusiasm, and even come to believe that they experienced things they did not. The courts themselves admit it, and have tried to remedy potential misconduct through taint hearings and greater regulation of the interview process. Medical examinations, though, seem like they’d be more concrete. You can’t argue with physical signs of abuse, can you?

 

Please take a look at the 2003 conviction of Ernie Lopez of Amarillo, Tx for a truly horrifying example of what can happen when only the prosecution calls medical witnesses. Convicted of raping a tiny baby to death, the Court of Appeals eventually released him when doctors and forensic specialists declared it more likely that she died a natural death of something called ‘Disseminated Intravascular Coagulation’. The lack of damage to her outer parts did not indicate sexual assault; no hair or semen was found on her.

 

Notwithstanding, Lopez served 9 years of a 60 year sentence for one of the most disgusting crimes imaginable based on an apparently flawed examination. Again, that case was in Amarillo; it has nothing to do with the Harris County justice system except to demonstrate how one mistake can rip years away from an innocent man’s life.

 

In 2004, hundreds of physical examinations performed by a nurse at the Children’s Assessment Center turned out to be flawed; news articles from the time suggest that she was bent on obtaining evidence for police and prosecutors to use.

 

This was eventually brought to light by another doctor at the University of Texas Health Science Center; the D.A’s office led the investigation, although their court cases would have benefitted from the interviews. I can find no record of the outcome, just vague assertions that 300 of her 800 cases were called into question, the nurse was let go, (she soon turned up at another clinic ( performing the same work), and that defense lawyers were definitely notified.

 

Shortly after this, the CAC decides to stop videotaping examinations, even though these records are the only way Taft’s wrongdoing could be discovered. There was some attempt to force them to continue recording through legislation.

 

No one else that I can find was ever called to account; apparently this nurse operated in a complete vacuum where no one who worked with her or received her reports ever thought to question her methods.

 

In 2004 another man, Kevin Sauceda, was convicted of molesting a young relative, aged 9. At the time he was alleged to have committed this crime he was recovering from a 21-day coma after being shot in the head; he couldn’t even feed himself. The child changed her testimony in the courtroom to include guns and knives, when previously, after apparently being brow-beaten into confessing to family members, she made no mention of these.

The taped interview was unusable; it seems the child and interviewer talked about other accusations against Sauceda at the time, accusations which he was never indicted for. Because of some legal gymnastics used to prevent the interviewer being called as a defense witness, the appeals court was eventually forced to send the case back for a harm analysis, which is where they try to decide whether or not they hurt Sauceda’s case by not allowing him to prove that his accuser lied on the stand.

 

This was the state of the Children’s Assessment Center, which processed Coy’s accuser, Jane Doe; but not until days after the Houston Police Department conducted their own interview; the written statement given by her mother at this interview was discarded, and in court they claimed that, because of an equipment malfunction, there is no record of the interview. Interestingly enough, the same social worker in Kevin Sauceda’s case, Fiona Stephenson, interviewed Jane Doe the second time.

 

http://www.propublica.org/article/texas-court-voids-conviction-in-child-death-case

 

http://www.chron.com/news/houston-texas/article/Child-agency-halts-video-of-sex-assault-exams-1513136.php

Weekend Reading 55.a

If you haven't already, check out 'Body Bags' Feat SPM; Big Gibz, Pirscription, Hustler E, and produced by Jaime 'Pain' Ortiz.

Weekend Reading 55

I have to post this up a little early; check out Rasheed's newest, "The Dope House Story" through On The Reel Films. Don't forget to follow him on Twitter @Rasheed713 .

Recap 3

After my initial overview of Coy’s case, it became apparent that the trial was wrong; neither decisive nor, in my opinion, just. But how could that be? If the case really had been decided with no evidence, and with the victim testifying repeatedly that she wasn’t sure if she had been assaulted, how could anyone be given a conviction?

 

I started looking into exonerations in Harris County specifically, and found that there had been many. Suffering a wrongful conviction, being thrown into prison and then ignored for ten or twenty years suddenly didn’t seem that unlikely. So what was the culture of Houston’s justice system at the time Coy vs. Texas was taking place? Who was behind it?

 

Chuck Rosenthal came to power in 2001, taking the reigns from Johnny Holmes, another hard-line District attorney. He was re-elected in 2004. The District Attorney is the official in charge of prosecuting criminal cases; he has Assistant District Attorneys under him who handle individual cases, and the D.A. guides the office; some focus on the War on Drugs, others try to stamp out gang activity or domestic violence. The D.A. creates the atmosphere under which the prosecutors in the county operate.

"Former Harris County District Attorneys Johnny Holmes and Charles "Chuck" Rosenthal left a deplorable legacy of prosecutorial misconduct involving cases where prosecutors not only withheld clearly exculpatory information but fabricated evidence, including the knowing use of perjured testimony, to secure criminal conviction-even in death penalty cases. The administration of these two former district attorneys, which spanned nearly 30 years, was proud of their "win-at-any-costs" philosophy that ultimately morphed into unofficial policy"

 

http://voices.yahoo.com/no-accountability-prosecutors-gone-rogue-4894050.html

 

He resigned after a petition was filed for his removal; he claimed that some combination of prescription drugs was impairing his Decision Smart-Maker, or something.

 

Chuck Rosenthal is the reason why I do not agree with those who say that Coy was targeted because of his race. I believe that anyone who found themselves in the cross-hairs of this administration was equally at risk. I don’t claim that race had nothing to do with it, as apparently some of the emails subpoenaed from him were full of some pretty hateful, racist jokes, but cannot believe that it was the motivating factor.

 

The actions of his administration became infamous; Prosecutors hiding or simply not providing evidence that could prove the innocence of the defendant seems to have happened regularly; this is called a Brady Violation, and is illegal; it’s illegal because the D.A.’s job is to seek justice, not just to win cases; in theory, it shouldn’t be a conflict of interest to say “Hey, this evidence suggests that the guy I’m prosecuting is innocent; I should give it to the defense attorney so the jury can see the whole picture.”

 

For whatever reason, sometimes that doesn’t happen. Sometimes the prosecutors are punished, but more often they are not.

 "Robert Fickman, a defense lawyer and past-president of the Harris County Criminal Lawyer's Association, commended Rosenthal for the experienced lawyers he's placed in key positions and acknowledged that much of the criticism that's levelled at him may not be fair.
 But, he said, there's a general perception in the defense bar that "he doesn't rein in loose cannons on his staff, that he lets people on his staff engage in conduct that's aggressive to the point of being borderline behavior."

 

Rosenthal himself faced such accusations as a young prosecutor in Holmes' office."
http://www.chron.com/news/houston-texas/article/7-years-of-barbs-and-bouquets-for-Rosenthal-1768787.php

 

This was the culture that hung over Carlos Coy’s trial; A desire to win, to convict and incarcerate somebody, whether he was guilty or not. The rogue cops and prosecutors that are idolized on TV shows, the ones that bend the rules to get the ‘bad guy’, their real-life counterparts ruled over Houston, choosing ‘bad guys’ seemingly at random and doing what they could to make them pay, whether that was justice or not.

 "There are many good reasons to believe that Chuck Rosenthal should not be the district attorney in Harris County, Texas ... or anywhere else. He leads the nation in his aggressive use of the death penalty and refused to change that stance in the face of evidence that the Houston crime lab was falsifying data. When a grand jury asked Rosenthal to recuse himself from the investigation of that scandal on the ground that he was up to his neck in it, he declined. He defended his office's reliance on false testimony to support a conviction although he had the good grace to apologize for one of the many wrongful convictions for which his office is responsible."

http://www.talkleft.com/story/2008/2/16/121228/912

 

The realization that 8 years of such a bloody cluster-fuck could be shoved down the memory hole by an entire city is startling; although his eventual successor, Pat Lykos, did establish a unit whose purpose was to examine wrongful-conviction cases, it appears that little has been done to right the wrongs. If you can't produce exonerating DNA evidence (which has happened in a surprising number of cases, probably due to the Crime Lab's shocking malfeasance), you're screwed. Your only option is the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals, which we'll talk about later.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chuck_Rosenthal_(district_attorney)

 

http://gritsforbreakfast.blogspot.com/2008/01/every-nasty-thing-you-thought-about.html

 

http://www.thedailybeast.com/newsweek/2008/02/25/race-justice-and-texas.html