Pubdate: Sat, 23 Aug 2003
Source: Amarillo Globe-News (TX)
Copyright: 2003 Amarillo Globe-News
Contact:  http://amarillonet.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/13
Author: Greg Cunningham
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/corrupt.htm (Corruption - United States)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/tulia.htm (Tulia, Texas)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/people/Tom+Coleman (Tom Coleman)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/prison.htm (Incarceration)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/racial.htm (Racial Issues)

DEFENDANTS FILE SUIT HOURS AFTER PARDONS

Only a few hours after pardons from Gov. Rick Perry put an end to the criminal aspects of the
controversial 1999 Tulia drug sting, defense attorneys opened another line of attack with a
federal civil rights lawsuit.

The suit - filed in Amarillo's federal district court on behalf of two
defendants from the drug sting whose charges were later dropped -
names more than 40 defendants, including the drug task force that
supervised the sting and every county belonging to the task force.

Defense attorney Jeff Blackburn, one of the lawyers who filed the
suit, said he is seeking compensation and justice for violation of the
Constitutional rights of his clients, Tonya White and Zury Bossett.

"This lawsuit is going to get done what it needs to get done,"
Blackburn said. "In terms of bringing true accountability, the real
wrongdoers in this case have got to pay for what they did. They've got
to pay in a large enough amount that they won't do it again."

White and Bossett were among the 46 people, 39 of them black, who were
arrested in the 1999 undercover sting conducted by itinerant lawman
Tom Coleman.

The charges against White were dropped when she produced a bank
deposit slip showing she was in Oklahoma the day Coleman said she sold
him drugs. A short time later, the charges against Bossett were
dropped as well.

The suit names Coleman, Swisher County and its Sheriff Larry Stewart,
District Attorney Terry McEachern and the Panhandle Regional Narcotics
Trafficking Task Force, along with the task force's board of governors
and its member cities and counties.

Representatives from numerous defendants either did not return calls
seeking comment or refused to comment because they had not seen the
suit. Many of them expressed puzzlement at being named in a suit based
on a bust that happened miles away.

"I'm totally unaware of the lawsuit," said Oldham County Judge Don
Allred. "The only thing that I would say at this time, is I find it
hard to understand why we would be included in a lawsuit on an issue
that took place in another county."

Blackburn said the suit names many defendants but focuses on the task
force, which supervised Coleman. Blackburn said the task force has yet
to make any changes, despite the findings against the bust.

"They have done nothing, zero, absolutely zip about what happened in
Tulia," Blackburn said of the task force. "They've got the same
supervisor in charge over there. They have not issued an apology, a
statement, they haven't even said we're re-examining what we've done.

"Everybody involved in the legal end of this case has dedicated
themselves to undoing what was done to these people in Tulia, and we
cannot undue what was done to them without undoing this task force."

Inquiries to the task force were referred to the Amarillo city
attorney, who was out of the office Friday.

Blackburn said the cities and counties were named in the suit because
they turned over their narcotics enforcement efforts to the task
force. As to how naming the cities and counties will help in the fight
against the task force, Blackburn wouldn't say for certain, but he did
drop a hint.

"The counties of the Panhandle would have been a lot better off had
they never been duped into joining this task force," Blackburn said.
"I hope that they'll see that. I hope that they'll do the right thing
in the future, and I hope that they will decide to get out of this
dead-end law enforcement gimmick."
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MAP posted-by: Larry Seguin