Pubdate: Fri, 23 May 2003 Source: Houston Chronicle (TX) Copyright: 2003 Houston Chronicle Publishing Company Division, Hearst Newspaper Contact: http://www.chron.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/198 Author: Thom Marshall Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/tulia.htm (Tulia, Texas) POLITICKING GOES ON WHILE TULIA 13 WAIT DEAR TULIA 13, I didn't intend to write to you again before you get out of prison, but since you still are there I thought you might want an update on a couple of bills that could help keep what happened to you from happening to others. Senate Bill 1045 would create a commission to investigate the causes of wrongful criminal convictions in Texas and recommend how future wrongful convictions can be prevented. Wrongful convictions have made a lot of news since you got locked up four years ago. A couple of big ones that followed the Tulia Drug Bust were the Dallas Sheetrock Scandal and the Houston Crime Lab Mess. Lawmakers talk about reform No one knows how many wrongful convictions may have occurred in cases involving one or two people at a time. Those don't attract much media attention or public scrutiny. But we have reason to suspect they happen because that same drug task force undercover cop whose discredited testimony put you in prison worked undercover jobs in some other towns after Tulia. State Sen. Rodney Ellis, D-Houston, said that the interim Innocence Commission created by 1045 would be composed of nine members -- legislators, members of the judiciary and law professors -- and that it could help "restore confidence in the Texas criminal justice system." Senate Bill 515 could have helped do that, too. It would have required that juries be given special instructions in cases that involve uncorroborated testimony. However, the word from Austin Thursday night was that the bill lacked enough votes and wouldn't make it. A stronger House bill would have required corroboration, but it was one of the casualties when the Democrat quorum busters went to Oklahoma in order to stop Republican redistricting efforts. Actually, supporters of the reform measure say it is odd that our Texas law has not required corroboration of testimony all along, considering that has been a basic foundation stone in justice systems going back to biblical times. I can't help but wonder how the 13 of you feel when you read something about the lawmakers in Austin debating what should be done about the injustices that the system rained down on you, and that it continues raining down on you every minute you spend locked up. Are you convinced they are sincere? The Senate approved a bill by Sen. John Whitmire, D-Houston, that would permit a Swisher County judge to release you from prison on bond while the Court of Criminal Appeals ponders your cases. The House is expected to vote on it next week. That bill obviously spurred Gov. Rick Perry to make a move. After ignoring your plight for so long, he finally asked the Board of Pardons and Paroles to review all 38 convictions that resulted from the controversial and discredited drug bust in 1999, and to recommend whether pardons, commutation of sentences, or some other clemency action is appropriate. Prison doors yet to be opened So Austin is full of powerful politicians who know that what happened to you was wrong. These are intelligent folks who figured out how to win elections. They are talking about doing something, but not one of them has yet managed to turn a key and set you free. It was almost eight weeks ago that Judge Ron Chapman concluded an evidentiary hearing and said he was recommending all 38 convictions from the Tulia bust be vacated because the undercover cop responsible, Tom Coleman, "is simply not a credible witness." (Coleman since has been indicted on perjury charges.) Chapman's recommendation should have resulted in a quick end to your four years of unjust imprisonment. That hearing ended on April 1. Every time the hot sun sets on another day, you must all lie back on the bunks in your cells and wonder when the system's cruel April Fools' joke on you finally will end. Yours truly, Thom Marshall - --- MAP posted-by: Josh