Pubdate: Fri, 23 Feb 2001 Source: Amarillo Globe-News (TX) Copyright: 2001 Amarillo Globe-News Contact: P.O. Box 2091, Amarillo, TX 79166 Fax: (806) 373-0810 Website: http://amarillonet.com/ Forum: http://208.138.68.214:90/eshare/server?action=4 Author: Greg Cunningham, Globe-News Staff Writer TULIA MAN FILES LAWSUIT AGAINST SHERIFF, EX-AGENT Swisher County Sheriff Larry Stewart and former undercover agent Tom Coleman are facing another lawsuit in connection with the 1999 arrests of 46 people in Tulia. Amarillo attorney Chris Hoffman and co-counsel Jeff Blackburn filed the suit Thursday on behalf of Billy Don Wafer, who was accused of delivery of a controlled substance, a charge that was later tossed out by an appeals court. The suit seeks unspecified damages from Stewart and Coleman, alleging that they conspired to eliminate blacks from Tulia by manufacturing evidence in the drug sting. "This is a big step toward getting justice for all those people who were wrongly arrested," Wafer said. "That's what this is about, getting justice for those people. It's not about me. It's not about the money." Wafer's lawsuit effectively replaces a suit filed in September on behalf of another defendant, Yul Bryant, which was withdrawn Thursday. "We have decided to focus all our efforts on the case of Billy Wafer, and Yul supports that decision," Blackburn said. "Billy Wafer embodies everything that was wrong with the Tulia drug sting. He's a good man who was falsely arrested. He suffered tremendously because of it, and he was eventually cleared in a court of law." Stewart's attorney, Charlotte Bingham, said she was unwilling to comment on specifics of the lawsuit, but she said that the withdrawal of Bryant's suit is telling. "Needless to say, we're quite pleased with (the withdrawal of Bryant's suit)," Bingham said. "It was our position that Mr. Bryant's suit was not meritorious, and it will also be our position that there was no racial motivation in Mr. Wafer's prosecution." Telephone calls to Stewart and Coleman's attorney were not returned Thursday. Wafer's suit is nearly identical to Bryant's, except that District Attorney Terry McEachern is not named in the latest suit. Blackburn said the decision not to sue McEachern was made because prosecutorial immunity is nearly ironclad, which would make naming McEachern a useless act. The lawsuits stem from an 18-month undercover investigation that resulted in the 1999 indictment of 46 people, 39 of whom were black. After the arrests, charges of racism were raised, and Tulia was thrust into the national spotlight as a symbol of racial intolerance. Wafer first appeared in a Swisher County court for a hearing on a motion to revoke his probation stemming from a 1990 possession of marijuana charge. After a short trial, District Judge Ed Self refused to revoke probation, saying he was not convinced by a preponderance of the evidence that Wafer was guilty. Self refused to drop the charges against Wafer, however, so Wafer's attorney, Brent Hamilton, appealed to the 7th District Court of Appeals. The appeals court tossed out Wafer's charge after it found that the probation hearing amounted to a trial, preventing Wafer from being tried a second time under double jeopardy rules. Wafer said he and his family have paid a terrible toll for his arrest. Wafer said he lost his job while he was in jail, and the family lost a loan on a home they were planning to buy. But Wafer chose to downplay what he went through, instead pointing to the dozen or so of his fellow defendants who are still in jail. "This whole deal has been nothing but a nightmare for all of us," Wafer said. "This (lawsuit) is just part of the process for finally getting justice for everyone involved." - --- MAP posted-by: Andrew