Sentenced to die, Charles Mamou has always maintained his innocence.  The prosecution presented an elaborate story of a man who went on a shooting rampage that included a sexual assault.  That story was then shared by the media.

What took place on December 6, 1998, according to witness testimony and actual evidence, began with an attempted robbery.  The prosecution’s witness, Kevin Walter, helped arrange the sham ‘drug deal’ through a cousin from Sunset, Louisiana. Walter testified during the trial regarding the robbery of Charles Mamou. 

Volume 16 of the Reporter’s Record at page 95:

Q.  You didn’t have any guns?

A.  One.

Q.  One gun?

A.  Exact.

Q.  Terrence Gibson?

A.  Yes.

Q.  And that was going to take care of whatever was necessary in terms of getting the $20,000 from Chucky Mamou, correct?

A.  Correct.

Volume 16 of the Reporter’s Record at page 96:

Q.   Let’s back up for a second.  Tell me – describe to the members of the jury, what was your plan?  Just tell them in your own words, what was the plan to get the money?   Let them know.

A.  See the money, count the money, and see can I walk away with the money.  That was my plan.

Volume 16 of the Reporter’s Record at page 101:

Q.  So if the police weren’t there, you would do whatever it takes to take the money?  Fair statement?  This is all about you getting twenty grand, right?

A.  Right.

Q.  I believe your testimony when Mr. McClellan was talking to you was the plan was to rob the defendant, Charles Mamou, correct?

A.  Correct.

Volume 16 of the Reporter’s Record at page 102:

Q.  So, you’re feeling comfortable that’s where you’re going to rob him, at that store over there?

A.  Yeah, I feel more comfortable off Cavalcade.

Volume 16 of the Reporter’s Record at page 105:

Q.  You never had any intention of giving him any dope?

A.  Right.

Q.  From start to finish, your plan is to rip him off?

A.  Right.

Q.  At some point, when it’s obvious to you that twenty thousand is no longer an issue, according to your testimony, and it’s only forty-five hundred, you’re still wanting to rip him off even for the forty-five hundred?

A.  Yeah.

Volume 16 of the Reporter’s Record at page 112:

Q.  But you had already planned for everybody that was going to meet after you had ripped off Chucky Mamou of his money?

A.  Yes.

After testifying to picking up Mary Carmouche, Kevin Walter continues to describe the plan.  

Volume 16 of the Reporter’s Record at page 118:

Q.  So you drive all the way from the northeast side of town down to the Bennigan’s, and Miss Carmouche is with you at that time?

A. Yes.

Q.  What is your plan at that point when you’re going to the Bennigan’s?  Can you still see the money, count the money, take the money?

A.  Exactly.

Q.  So you know, when you get to that location, all four of you, that your plan is still to rip him off. Now at this point, do you believe there is still $20,000 at stake?

A.  Yes.

Q.  Okay.  So before you go to Bennigan’s you’re still thinking, twenty grand is what I’m going to be able to walk away from if I pull this off?

A.  Yes.

Volume 16 of the Reporter’s Record at page 120:

Q.  Were you thinking at that point that you’re still going to pull this off, the plot to take his money?

A.  Yes.

Q.  Your thing at that point, as you’re sitting there at the Bennigan’s, is getting closer and closer; we’re finally going to be able to pull this off?

A.  Right, once we count the money.

Volume 16 of the Reporter’s Record at page 121:

Q.  You were just going to rip him off?

A.  That’s what – yeah.

Volume 16 of the Reporter’s Record at page 125:

Q.  You weren’t going to try and rob Mr. Mamou in the middle of the Fiesta store parking lot, were you?

A.  Yes.  If he would have counted the money there, we would have took it.

Volume 16 of the Reporter’s Record at page 126:

Q.  So now we’ve been through several failed attempts to be able to rip him off, correct?

A.  Yeah.

Volume 16 of the Reporter’s Record at page 127:

Q.  That is, now your plan is to go wherever Chucky Mamou drives, and that’s where you’re going to rip him off?

A.  If we followed him, yes.

Volume 16 of the Reporter’s Record at page 141:

Q.  Now, was there a point in time when you decided that it was okay to tell the police what had happened once you realized you weren’t going to be prosecuted for anything, correct?

A.  Correct.

Q.  Is that what caused you to then come forward and say, here’s how – what I was going to do.  Once some police detective shows you, tells you about how we’re not worried about you and this dope case; we’re interested in prosecuting this guy, and that’s the first time you’ve come forward with information, and you had basically explained what you testified to on direct examination?

A.  Right.

Volume 16 of the Reporter’s Record at page 161:

Q.  How were you going to get him to give you the money?

A.  Once we count the money, then we take the money.

Q.  Just going to jump in the car and run?

A.  No.  It was at gunpoint, of course, but it wasn’t no plan.

Q.  Pardon?

A.  If it was going to be at gunpoint, yes, of course, once we count the money.

Volume 16 of the Reporter’s Record at page 164:

Q.  Your testimony was that if it was necessary at some point to have a gunpoint to force the money, you said that was okay, isn’t it?

A.  Yes.

Q.  If the plan came to that, that was okay with you?

A.  No, it was no plan.

Q.  But if it came to that, that was going to be all right, if it meant you getting the $20,000, right?

A.  Yes.

Volume 16 of the Reporter’s Record at page 166:

Q.  You don’t – after it’s obvious that you’re going to be going to Bennigan’s, right, you don’t let Mary Carmouche off; you don’t take her home, do you, before going there?

A.  No. 

Volume 16 of the Reporter’s Record at page 167:

Q.  When did you see Terrence Gibson with a gun?

A.  Early.

Volume 16 of the Reporter’s Record at page 168:

Q.  But you knew he had a gun?

A.  Yes.

Q.  And you knew that if it came to gunpoint, then so be it, in terms of getting the $20,000 from Chucky Mamou?

A. Yes.

According to the testimony of Kevin Walter, he and his friends intended to rob Charles Mamou on December 6, 1998.    As earlier posted, Kevin Walter also testified that Samuel Johnson, Mamou’s partner in the drug deal, drove away and left Mamou behind once that attempted robbery took place.  According to the only witnesses at the scene, Mamou then fled in the Lexus.

Charles Mamou is out of appeals and waiting for an execution date. 

Anyone with information related to this case can contact me at kimberleycarter@verizon.net. There is also a facebook page dedicated to sharing the truth.

TO CONTACT CHARLES MAMOU:
Charles Mamou #999333
Polunsky Unit 12-CD-53
3872 South FM 350
Livingston, TX 77351

Things were different in Harris County, Texas, two decades ago.  It could be said there was a thirst for blood that is less pronounced now.  Charles Mamou will most likely get an execution date in the near future for a case that was prosecuted when securing a death penalty was a badge of honor, celebrated even.  It was more acceptable in the halls of justice at that time to jam the pieces of the puzzle into place if investigators or a prosecutor ‘wanted’ a particular someone for a crime – or throw the pieces out if need be.   Hopefully, things are different now.   Mamou will pay with his life for the climate of the late 90’s, but it’s not too late to share what the prosecution knew when they tried the case. And what they know today for that matter. There was little interest in finding out what happened back when they could have, and a lot of interest in making a guilty verdict stick – which took some doing with no evidence.

Charles Mamou first wrote for this site in March, 2018.  Out of curiosity, I looked up some articles about him after the first few pieces he submitted.  Two things stood out – allegations of sexual assault, some articles saying he was charged with that crime, and a pair of his sunglasses that were reported to have been left near the body.  It had to be true if he left his sunglasses, right?  I envisioned the location to be an abandoned house on a block of old abandoned houses.  It wasn’t until I started reading Mamou’s case file I learned the sunglasses were miles from the body that was found in a residential neighborhood – and the sexual assault?  There is a lot more to that story as well.

Charles Mamou, Jr., was born and raised in Sunset, Louisiana, and early on he began taking care of his family and broke the law to do it.  Like many before him and since, some of his most successful role models were drug dealers.  And so began his life of crime.  He wasn’t a choir boy, but he had a reputation for helping people out.

Houston, Texas, wasn’t Mamou’s stomping ground.  He didn’t know the area like the back of his hand, but his dad lived there, as well as a couple cousins.  He would travel to the area for ‘business’, if you can call it that.  That is why he was there in December, 1998.  He was involved in a transaction that included several other individuals, all of whom were residents of Houston.  He wasn’t even driving his own car on that trip.  He was staying with a couple in their apartment and was being driven by others tied to the same anticipated business transaction. 

The evening of December 6, 1998, was mild and dry.  Lantern Point Drive, where the ‘drug deal’ and attempted robbery eventually took place, had no lights, and according to police, it was a cloudy night.  Samuel Johnson was driving the car Mamou was in.  Terrence Dodson had been a participant in the transaction earlier in the day, but had since gone home.  The car they met on the dark street where it all took place carried four passengers, including Mary Carmouche.

All surviving parties later admitted to their involvement in a drug deal gone wrong, although no one was ever charged with anything involved in that incident other than Charles Mamou, who was charged with kidnapping when he fled the scene after gunfire erupted and his partner drove away without him.   The deceased individual had a loaded gun next to his body, leaving a good argument for self-defense.  Mary Carmouche was driven to the location by three men who were there to rob Mamou, and she was in the back seat of the car he sped away in. 

When security guards arrived shortly after the shooting, which took place around midnight, one man was dead and two were injured.  Both vehicles were gone.

The two surviving men both testified in court that the vehicle Samuel Johnson was driving drove off first – leaving Charles Mamou behind.  Mamou then jumped into the blue Lexus and fled the scene. 

According to the testimony of Kevin Walter, (Volume 16, of the Reporter’s Record at page 137):

Q.  All right. Then where was the blue Lexus at the point you picked up the gun?

A.  Taking off.

Q.  Where was the red car?

A.  Done took off.

Q.  It had taken off before the blue car?

A.  Yes.

Kevin Walter had no reason to lie about which car took off first, and according to his testimony, Samuel Johnson drove away first in the red car – leaving Charles Mamou, who then jumped in the blue Lexus and drove away.

Dion Holley was the other individual who was shot at the scene.  His testimony (Volume 18, of the Reporter’s Record at page 115) was as follows:

Q.  All right. And what did you see?

A.  I saw the red car backing up and turned around in the street, and I saw the blue car leaving off. 

Q.  When you say you saw the red car backing up and turning around, how did they make – if they’re going backwards, how did they turn around and go the other way?  Is it like a three point turn where they stop, back up, and pull around; or is it like a scene on shows where they’re able to hit the brakes and the car spins around?

A.  That’s pretty much how it was.

Q.  So, it was a very quick thing?

A.  Yes.

Q.  Did it appear to you that the red car was trying to get out of there really quick?

A.  That’s correct.

Q.  And then that vehicle was followed by your mom’s Lexus?

A. That’s correct.

Samuel Johnson, the driver of the red car and Mamou’s associate in the deal, later became a suspect in this case.  Although his version of events contradicted all of the witnesses’ testimony, the prosecution went with his description of what took place.  According to Samuel Johnson’s statement to police, he was not concerned about Charles Mamou or the car that could have held the drugs he was there to buy that night.   He was not concerned about the shooting he had been involved in or the girl whose whereabouts he supposedly knew nothing about.  The following is Johnson’s testimony regarding what happened next (Volume 19, of the Reporter’s Record at page 115):

Q.  You go directly home?

A.  Yeah.

Q.  Tell your wife what happened?

A.  No, she was asleep at the time

Q.  Pretty exciting events in our life, isn’t it?

A.  Very exciting.

Q.  You just get in bed and go to sleep?

A.  No, I took a shower.

Q.  Took a shower, and then got in bed and went to sleep?

A.  No, opened me a can of soda and went to bed.

Q.  Talk to anybody that night?

A.  No

The next morning Samuel Johnson got up in his usual fashion and headed to work – where he was employed as an Orkin man, treating homes in the Houston area.

Charles Mamou has always maintained that he followed Samuel Johnson back to the apartments, with Mary Carmouche in the car.  According to Mamou there were other individuals present in the parking lot of the apartments when they arrived, along with himself, the victim and Johnson.   Twenty years later, there are witnesses that support that.

Until his execution, I will be sharing everything I have learned over the last eighteen months.  All of the information will be on a facebook page, Charles Mamou – How Wrongful Convictions Are Made, where I hope to share what the prosecution knew and what the defense failed to share.  There will also be a catagory on this site, ‘Charles Mamou’, where every blog post will be kept.

Anyone with information regarding what took place in December of 1998, please contact me at kimberleycarter@verizon.net.