The Illegal Case Against Billy
The case that was developed against Billy has brought many to question the ethics of law enforcement, the solicitor's office and the judicial ethics in Rock Hill South Carolina. Some of them were touched upon when Dateline headlined a two part episode dedicated to showing the travesty that has been committed against Billy.
1. Upon arriving at the house that morning, police did not bother to fingerprint the house, they did not bother to collect all the evidence that was on the bed with Amanda when she was found.
2. Billy was appointed an attorney, yet when the attorney showed up to see Billy, he was denied access to Billy, a right that we all are entitled to.
3. After many hours of talking with the police, being frustrated over their inability to hear anything he had to say, listen to what happened that night, Billy begged for a lie detector test. He knew it would show them that he did not do what they were accusing him of. Billy took the test, after very little sleep, and the police told him that he failed the test, when in fact he passed the test, the test did reveal that Billy was not involved in what happened to Amanda that night.
4. The police lied to Mary Sue, told her that Billy's DNA was found on Amanda along with another person's, wired her with a recorder and sent her into the jail to interrogate Billy on their behalf. Billy was represented by an attorney, and this action is illegal. They showed Mary Sue the gruesome autopsy pictures of her daughter and told her that if she did not get Billy to confess to her, for a total of five confessions, that she would never see her two other daughters and they would prosecute her as well.
5. The prosecutor's office was making a deal behind closed doors with a woman that was facing serious criminal charges, charges that went away after she received "confession" letters that Billy had supposedly written, yet the letters did not have one fingerprint that belonged to Billy, was written on paper that Billy had no access to, and was shown to the creator of the South Carolina's handwriting analysis department, who testified that they were forgeries. This woman, Amy Simmons, was being looked at for many crimes including forgery, tampering with patient records, and giving patients injections of insulin, two going into a coma, one dying. Her employer wanted to press charges against her, but the prosecutor's office would not press charges because she was right in the middle of getting a "confession" that was going to be portrayed as being from the hand of Billy Cope.
6. All of Billy's confessions were inaccurate in every detail, he never mentioned another person being in his home that night, each confession was different and none of the evidence collected from Billy's confessions had any DNA or were scientifically ruled out as being involved in the crime against Amanda. There was no DNA of Billy's in Amanda's room, not one hair, not one skin cell. If Billy was in that room that night committing a crime so violent, there would be some evidence of it.
7. The autopsy reports that there were bruises and contusions on Amanda's back consistent with the items on Amanda's bed, the pathologist testified in Billy's family court hearing that these wounds are consistent with Amanda being attacked and killed from the front, yet when he went into the criminal court, he testified that Amanda was attacked and killed from the back so that it would match Billy's confessions. Why does the prosecutor's office and pathologist feel a need to change evidence to convict Billy?
8. The trial proceeded before all forensic evidence was completed, Judge John Hayes, from the very beginning of this case showed a complete disregard not only for a fair trial, but also for Billy to have any defense at all, Judge Hayes blatantly denied Billy any defense by refusing his experts to testify, by allowing inflammatory evidence in the court room that was not even a part of any crime, but a part of the false confessions! Judge Hayes tried this case before a single person entered into his court room to argue this case! How can any "judge" allow this travesty to happen? How can one sit on the bench but be so incompetent that he does not make the prosecution complete all the work in a case that has been sitting in their storage for 3 long years, the DNA was not completed on the mops and brooms, yet they were allowed to sit in the court room, in front of the jury as if they actually held any importance at all, the day the jury was selected and sworn in, the prosecution was requesting Billy submit to giving a palm print to see if it matched the one found on the letters that Amy Simmons was claiming she received from Billy, the print was proven not to belong to Billy, but it was allowed to sit in the court room and was allowed to be introduced into evidence as if it held some significant importance! How can any officer of the court say this behavior is dignified to the office they hold?!
1. Upon arriving at the house that morning, police did not bother to fingerprint the house, they did not bother to collect all the evidence that was on the bed with Amanda when she was found.
2. Billy was appointed an attorney, yet when the attorney showed up to see Billy, he was denied access to Billy, a right that we all are entitled to.
3. After many hours of talking with the police, being frustrated over their inability to hear anything he had to say, listen to what happened that night, Billy begged for a lie detector test. He knew it would show them that he did not do what they were accusing him of. Billy took the test, after very little sleep, and the police told him that he failed the test, when in fact he passed the test, the test did reveal that Billy was not involved in what happened to Amanda that night.
4. The police lied to Mary Sue, told her that Billy's DNA was found on Amanda along with another person's, wired her with a recorder and sent her into the jail to interrogate Billy on their behalf. Billy was represented by an attorney, and this action is illegal. They showed Mary Sue the gruesome autopsy pictures of her daughter and told her that if she did not get Billy to confess to her, for a total of five confessions, that she would never see her two other daughters and they would prosecute her as well.
5. The prosecutor's office was making a deal behind closed doors with a woman that was facing serious criminal charges, charges that went away after she received "confession" letters that Billy had supposedly written, yet the letters did not have one fingerprint that belonged to Billy, was written on paper that Billy had no access to, and was shown to the creator of the South Carolina's handwriting analysis department, who testified that they were forgeries. This woman, Amy Simmons, was being looked at for many crimes including forgery, tampering with patient records, and giving patients injections of insulin, two going into a coma, one dying. Her employer wanted to press charges against her, but the prosecutor's office would not press charges because she was right in the middle of getting a "confession" that was going to be portrayed as being from the hand of Billy Cope.
6. All of Billy's confessions were inaccurate in every detail, he never mentioned another person being in his home that night, each confession was different and none of the evidence collected from Billy's confessions had any DNA or were scientifically ruled out as being involved in the crime against Amanda. There was no DNA of Billy's in Amanda's room, not one hair, not one skin cell. If Billy was in that room that night committing a crime so violent, there would be some evidence of it.
7. The autopsy reports that there were bruises and contusions on Amanda's back consistent with the items on Amanda's bed, the pathologist testified in Billy's family court hearing that these wounds are consistent with Amanda being attacked and killed from the front, yet when he went into the criminal court, he testified that Amanda was attacked and killed from the back so that it would match Billy's confessions. Why does the prosecutor's office and pathologist feel a need to change evidence to convict Billy?
8. The trial proceeded before all forensic evidence was completed, Judge John Hayes, from the very beginning of this case showed a complete disregard not only for a fair trial, but also for Billy to have any defense at all, Judge Hayes blatantly denied Billy any defense by refusing his experts to testify, by allowing inflammatory evidence in the court room that was not even a part of any crime, but a part of the false confessions! Judge Hayes tried this case before a single person entered into his court room to argue this case! How can any "judge" allow this travesty to happen? How can one sit on the bench but be so incompetent that he does not make the prosecution complete all the work in a case that has been sitting in their storage for 3 long years, the DNA was not completed on the mops and brooms, yet they were allowed to sit in the court room, in front of the jury as if they actually held any importance at all, the day the jury was selected and sworn in, the prosecution was requesting Billy submit to giving a palm print to see if it matched the one found on the letters that Amy Simmons was claiming she received from Billy, the print was proven not to belong to Billy, but it was allowed to sit in the court room and was allowed to be introduced into evidence as if it held some significant importance! How can any officer of the court say this behavior is dignified to the office they hold?!
