Pubdate: Tue,  2 Apr 2002
Source: Amarillo Globe-News (TX)
Contact:  2002 Amarillo Globe-News
Website: http://amarillonet.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/13
Author: Greg Cunningham
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/tulia.htm (Tulia, Texas)

JUDGE DENIES TULIA DEFENDANT'S CONTINUANCE

TULIA - The trial of one of the two remaining defendants from the
controversial 1999 Tulia drug sting is still scheduled to commence this
month, despite defense attorneys' appeals for more time.

Defendant Tonya Michelle White was in a Tulia courtroom Monday for a
pre-trial hearing at which her attorneys asked for a new trial date and made
allegations of witness tampering by undercover agent Tom Coleman.

White is one of 46 defendants - 39 of whom were black - arrested after an
18-month undercover investigation that sparked a firestorm of controversy.
White and fellow defendant Zury Bossett were not arrested until last year,
when Bossett was picked up on a traffic stop and White turned herself in.

Attorney Jeff Blackburn on Monday asked to push White's trial back because
the defense and prosecution had been unable to reach an agreement on the
production of evidence and a timetable to have narcotics evidence tested by
an independent laboratory.

"We have been trying as hard as we know how to get ready for this trial,"
Blackburn said. "We're here because these things haven't been produced for
us. If we can't get them, we can't go to trial."

Judge Ed Self denied the defense motion for a continuance, leaving the trial
set for April 16 and stating that both defense and prosecution need to work
harder to get the case prepared for a jury.

Self pointed out that time is short, and White's case is the second
scheduled for April 16, so a new trial date may have to be selected at a
later time.

White's defense team also had difficulty convincing Self on another matter,
allegations of witness tampering.

The defense presented a motion asking Self to order depositions for Coleman
and his attorney, Todd Phillippi, to determine if they intended to
intimidate witnesses through a letter they sent out last year.

Blackburn presented a letter from Phillippi addressed to Cochran County
Attorney J.C. Adams, threatening a lawsuit because Adams had allegedly made
"multiple slanderous, libelous, and defamatory comments" about Coleman in
public and to the media.

The letter apparently refers to statements about charges that were filed
against Coleman in Cochran County for official misconduct and theft prior to
his employment in Tulia, as well as allegations that Coleman left numerous
unpaid debts.

Blackburn claimed that the letter was an effort to keep Adams, and possibly
other potential witnesses, from testifying in the White trial about the
incidents, but Self seemed skeptical, repeatedly asking if that was really
the intent of the letter.

"It seems to me the letter does not tell the person to stop talking," Self
said. "It says to cease and desist making slanderous statements."

District Attorney Terry McEachern said in court that he didn't feel the
letter amounted to witness tampering, but when Blackburn brought the letter
to his attention, he agreed to check with John Neal in the state attorney
general's office, who also agreed the letter did not violate the law.

Phillippi dismissed the defense claims of witness tampering out of hand,
stating that he had sent three or four letters to public officials to get
them to stop making untrue statements about Coleman.

"Where do you even find words to express the sheer stupidity of that idea,"
Phillippi asked. "All the letters said was stop saying those things. We
contend they were false, and since they are false, they have to stop saying
them or they're going to get sued."

Self granted the defense's request for depositions of Coleman and Phillippi,
but limited the questions to only determining whether the letters were sent,
and to whom.

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