In Harris County, Texas, 1999, Charles Mamou was sentenced to death in a trial primarily focused on the testimony of a handful of drug dealers involved in the same drug deal, the strongest testimony coming from Mamou’s own cousin who testified Mamou confessed to him.

There were several factors the jury never heard regarding the alleged ‘confession’. 

When Terrence Dodson first heard police had contacted one of his relatives looking for him in connection to a capital murder case, he quickly told police his cousin, Chucky, had confessed to murdering and sexually assaulting the victim.  Charles Mamou was arrested for kidnapping and murder. 

Nearly a year later at trial, what the case lacked in physical evidence, it made up for in the ‘confession’, at times focusing on the sexual assault Terrence Dodson had described to police.  The jury was never presented all the contradictions between Mr. Dodson’s original statement to police and his actual testimony at trial, including the location of Mamou when he supposedly confessed and also how he confessed.  Those contradictions would have brought into question Dodson’s credibility and can be seen HERE.    

The jury was also not shown the letter Dodson wrote to his cousin a month after he told police about the ‘confession’.  In the letter Dodson said, “I’m glad you didn’t tell me shit about that cause I don’t wanna know shit, I feel better off that way.”

There was one more thing the jury never heard.  Charles Mamou was never charged with rape, but it had a significant impact in his trial, so much so that several articles written about the crime indicate that Mamou raped or sexually assaulted the victim.  The sexual assault was one facet of Terrence Dodson’s hour long video statement.  Dodson described how Mamou confessed to a sexual assault several times and also testified to that during the trial.  During Dodson’s testimony, Charles Mamou’s court appointed attorney and the prosecution never informed the jury that a rape kit was completed on the victim, including oral swabs.

When the prosecution was presenting their closing arguments, hoping to convince the jury of Mamou’s guilt and secure an execution, the jury was told, “He marches her to the back, and he makes her commit oral sodomy, makes her suck his penis.  Imagine that, ladies and gentlemen.”  At the time they made this argument, they were aware of Terrence Dodson’s questionable credibility.  They also knew the results from the rape kit, which stated, “No semen was detected on any items analyzed.”

Mamou’s own attorney never mentioned the results of the rape kit to the jury that was to decide his client’s fate.

Harris County, Texas, has sentenced more people to death than anyplace else in the country.  Charles Mamou is one of those people.  He maintains his innocence and is out of appeals and awaiting an execution date. 

Anyone with information regarding this case can contact me at kimberleycarter@verizon.net.  Anything you share with me will be confidential.

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