Pubdate: Wed, 02 Apr 2003
Source: Dallas Morning News (TX)
Copyright: 2003 The Dallas Morning News
Contact:  http://www.dallasnews.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/117
Author: David Sedeno,  The Dallas Morning News
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/tulia.htm (Tulia, Texas)

JUDGE WANTS TULIA DRUG CASES TOSSED

Defense, Prosecutors Faulted Witness In Racially Charged Trials

A judge said Tuesday that he would recommend that 38 drug convictions in 
Tulia - most against black defendants - be thrown out after defense 
attorneys and prosecutors agreed that an undercover officer on whose 
testimony the cases were based was not credible.

The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals had ordered a hearing to review the 
cases of four black men whose attorneys said were convicted in 1999 solely 
on the word of Tom Coleman, the former undercover officer. He admitted in 
court that he used racial slurs and didn't possess corroborating evidence.

The state's top criminal court also wanted to know whether prosecutors 
failed to turn over negative information about Mr. Coleman that could have 
hurt his credibility.

"It is stipulated by all parties and approved by the court that Tom Coleman 
is simply not a credible witness under oath," retired state District Judge 
Ron Chapman of Dallas, who presided over the hearing, said Tuesday. He said 
the parties agreed that all 38 convictions linked to Mr. Coleman be 
withdrawn and new trials ordered.

There is no time frame for the high court to take action once it receives 
Judge Chapman's recommendation.

Because the cases hinged on Mr. Coleman's testimony and evidence he 
gathered, there was doubt among many associated with the proceedings that 
Swisher County prosecutors would retry the cases if they are overturned.

"I hope this helps things, but it's going to be hard to forget things that 
have happened," said Pattie Brookins, whose son Freddie was sentenced to 20 
years on a drug conviction. "I can forgive, but I can't forget what they 
did to our children.

"They took four years from Freddie's life that he will never get back and I 
felt that I didn't have a right to be happy because my child was locked up. 
What kept me going was his positive attitude," she said.

Special prosecutor John Nation, a Dallas criminal defense attorney hired to 
represent the state in the hearing, did not return telephone calls seeking 
comment. After Mr. Coleman's second day of testimony on March 21, Mr. 
Nation said he looked forward to presenting the state's case. Among those 
on the witness list was District Attorney Terry McEachern, who prosecuted 
the cases in 1999.

Attorneys for the defendants, although cautious, said they were excited and 
would work with prosecutors over the next few weeks to prepare summaries of 
the 38 cases for Judge Chapman, who will review and forward them to the 
Court of Criminal Appeals.

The racially charged cases in the community of 5,000 had drawn national 
attention, although it was not the only proceeding in the state in which 
mass convictions have been closely scrutinized.

Dallas County prosecutors last year tossed out more than 80 Dallas police 
narcotics cases after lab tests revealed that they contained gypsum or 
minute traces of drugs. The cases involved mostly Hispanic defendants and 
were the product of two officers and their paid informants.

"We are thrilled. This is big news, unprecedented," said Vanita Gupta, an 
attorney with the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, representing 
one of the Tulia defendants. "We have to remain cautious, though, because 
this is not over, but we are working to make sure this becomes the final word."

Brian Stevenson, executive director of the Equal Justice Initiative of 
Alabama in Montgomery, Ala., said the Tulia case is nationally significant.

"The disclosure that this agent [Mr. Coleman] was not a credible witness is 
important because the criminal justice prosecution means that they 
[authorities] have an obligation to see the truth, not to get a 
conviction," he said.

"When there is evidence that agents or police informants or officers acted 
unfairly, or as in this case, in a racially motivated manner, the state has 
the obligation to protect the victims of that discrimination and bias," 
said Mr. Stevenson, whose organization represents poor minorities and 
handles death penalty cases in the Deep South.

In Tulia, 46 people - 39 of them black - were arrested on charges of 
possessing cocaine and rock cocaine. Eight of the cases were thrown out. 
Out of the remaining 38 cases, eight went to trial and resulted in 
convictions. Twenty-seven other defendants pleaded guilty and served prison 
time or received probation. Three others went to prison because their 
probations on other convictions were revoked.

Defendants in 35 of the 38 cases are black, two are Hispanic and one is 
Anglo. Thirteen of the 38 are still in prison.

Those arrested represented about 16 percent of Tulia's black population. 
Mr. Coleman, who is out of law enforcement and now lives in Waxahachie, was 
due to resume his testimony Tuesday, but he was not in the courthouse. No 
one answered the telephone at his home Tuesday.

Testimony in March focused on Mr. Coleman's credibility as several of his 
supervisors at the Panhandle Regional Narcotics Trafficking Task Force and 
Swisher County Sheriff Larry Stewart took the stand. They defended his work 
as an undercover officer, but admitted that some of his background was not 
given to defense attorneys during the original trials.

"I think Tom Coleman was a pawn in his own way and Mr. McEachern was a 
pawn, as well," said Jeff Blackburn, an Amarillo attorney representing one 
of the defendants.

Amarillo police Lt. Michael Amos, who directed the investigation, declined 
to comment Tuesday.

Mr. Coleman admitted on the stand that he had a seesaw career as deputy 
sheriff in various Texas counties in which he frequently feuded with 
colleagues and resigned positions abruptly because of personal problems. He 
was hired by the regional task force early in 1998 to work as an undercover 
narcotics officer in Swisher County.

He had a case pending against him in Cochran County, where he was accused 
of theft and abuse of office. He was arrested on that charge in August 
1998, he testified, by Sheriff Stewart in Swisher County, but the paperwork 
on his arrest was never sent to state law enforcement officials. State 
officials, Mr. Coleman said, would have revoked his peace officer's license.

By that time, attorneys for the defendants argued, Mr. Coleman already had 
made some drug buys and his cases would have been compromised.

Mr. Coleman said the charges in Cochran County were "bogus" and were being 
used by county officials to pressure him into paying more than $7,000 that 
he owed to Cochran County merchants. He said the cases were dismissed after 
he made restitution.

On the witness stand, Mr. Coleman at various times appeared certain of 
events and actions; at others he said he couldn't remember. He denied that 
he was a racist but admitted that he often used a racial slur as a greeting.

"The state's agreement to go global is very unusual and we couldn't be 
happier," one of the defendant's attorneys, Mitch Zamoff, said of Tuesday's 
decision covering all 38 cases.

Mr. Coleman testified that he did not have video or audiotapes to support 
his allegations because he feared for his life if he were searched. He 
denied a charge by Mr. Zamoff that he used task force money to buy drugs in 
another county and then diluted them to use as evidence for arrests in 
Swisher County in order to justify his employment.

The U.S. Justice Department and the Texas attorney general's office are 
investigating the cases.
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