HOUSTON--May 20, 2002-- A Houston jury could decide Monday the fate of convicted rap musician Carlos Coy, as they begin considering evidence in the sentencing portion of his trial.
A jury on Saturday convicted Coy, who is known as "South Park Mexican," of sexually assaulting a 9-year-old girl who spent the night at his home last September.
Coy, 31, faces up to life in prison based upon the conviction of aggravated sexual assault of a child.
State District Judge Mark Kent Ellis required jurors to continue their deliberations Saturday after they received the case on Friday. The jury spent a total of eight hours deliberating before returning the guilty verdict.
The girl, now 10, testified at one point that she didn't remember what happened and that she could have dreamed Coy touched her inappropriately. She later said the incident was real.
"By her testimony itself, we've proved the case," prosecutor Lisa Andrews told jurors during closing arguments Friday. "She's credible."
The girl told jurors she went to Coy's house to spend the night with his 6-year-old daughter. As the children were playing in an upstairs bedroom, Coy told them to watch a movie, the girl testified.
The girls and Coy were on the bed watching the movie, she said, when Coy put his hand under the blanket and rubbed her buttocks for about five minutes. Later, she said, Coy came into the bedroom where she was staying, sat on the bed and touched her genital area.
Coy's attorney, Chip Lewis, showed jurors portions of movies which the girl had watched, including: "Scream," "Scream 2" and "I Know What You Did Last Summer."
He also showed portions of "Scary Movie" and "Scary Movie Part 2," which Lewis said depicted the sexual acts the girl had alleged against his client.
"The principle is that a child who is not sure if (the alleged act) was a dream or reality has got to get the idea from somewhere," Lewis said. "It's fairly easy to draw an inference from the fact she was exposed to such violent, graphic sexual material."
Coy, who co-founded Houston-based Dope House Records, remains jailed without bail in Harris County. His latest album, Reveille Park, was released this month.
