Pubdate: Tue, 6 May 2003 Source: Austin American-Statesman (TX) Copyright: 2003 Austin American-Statesman Contact: http://www.austin360.com/statesman/editions/today/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/32 Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/tulia.htm (Tulia, Texas) CRIMINAL APPEALS COURT SHOULD NOT DELAY IN SETTING TULIA 13 FREE There is no excuse for the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals to keep 13 wrongly convicted Tulia residents behind bars. Defense attorneys, special prosecutors and retired state district Judge Ron Chapman all recommend that the convictions of 38 Tulia residents on trumped up drug charges be dismissed. That's a chorus even the often tone-deaf criminal appeals court should find impossible to ignore. Justice demands that the court move swiftly to free the 13 of the 38 who are still imprisoned for crimes they obviously didn't commit. They were sent to prison after the bogus 1999 drug busts by former undercover police officer Tom Coleman, who has since been indicted on perjury charges in connection with the case. While the court is deliberating whether to overturn those convictions, it should release the Tulia 13 on bail. That's the recommendation of Tulia special prosecutors Rod Hobson and John Nation. "First of all, we want them to reverse the convictions all of them," Hobson said Monday. "We would sure hope (the Court of Criminal Appeal judges) would take what the judge, prosecutors and the defense all say and go along with it. "In the meantime, these people have been locked up for years. We put on the record that as prosecutors, we are recommending that the court grant bond." We couldn't agree more. From the beginning, this case had the stench of injustice. Forty-six Tulia residents were arrested on drug trafficking charges after an 18-month, one-man drug sting by Coleman. Of those arrested, 39 were African American -- one-tenth of Tulia's black population. No money, drugs or other evidence was recovered during the arrests. Coleman didn't use recorders or surveillance. He didn't have witnesses to back up the alleged drug buys in public places. He kept track of those buys by scribbling them on his leg and thigh. All-white juries convicted Tulia residents solely on the say-so of Coleman, who was fond of calling African Americans "niggers." Coleman's ex-wife swore in an affidavit that he carried a Ku Klux Klan card in his wallet. After seeing what happened to the defendants who fought their convictions by going to trial -- they received sentences of 20 years to 90 years -- others pleaded guilty. Who can blame them for giving up on a system that didn't require evidence, witnesses or a credible police officer? Other questions linger: Why did prosecutors go to trial with this case in the first place? Why didn't the prosecution turn over facts about Coleman that would have helped the defense? Why did the Swisher County sheriff allow Coleman to continue undercover work after learning of Coleman's dubious record? (Coleman had been forced out of other law enforcement jobs because he was untrustworthy.) This matter doesn't end with Coleman. Hobson said Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott, the federal government or Chapman have the power to authorize an investigation of the rest of the Tulia posse, the law enforcement higher ups and prosecutors responsible for this miscarriage of justice that wrongly sent a farmer, mother of two young children and other working people to prison. We urge them to use that authority. In the meantime, the Court of Criminal Appeals should turn loose the Tulia 13. Dean Becker 11215 Oak Spring Houston, Tx. 77043 281-752-9198 Please include email: Reverend, Church of God's Evident Truth; Reporter, KPFT Radio, Houston President, Houston NORML; Community Liaison, Drug Policy Forum of Texas Author: Century of Lies, Declaration of Evident Truth; Publisher: Drug Truth Liaison, New York Times Drug Policy Forum; Producer: Cannabis Odyssey I-IV - --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Attachment: http://www.mapinc.org/temp/part545.html - --- MAP posted-by: Josh