Pubdate: Wed, 23 Apr 2003
Source: Lubbock Avalanche-Journal (TX)
Copyright: 2003 The Lubbock Avalanche-Journal
Contact:  http://www.lubbockonline.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/841
Author: Associated Press

TULIA CASE PROMPTS BILLS AIMED AT UNDERCOVER AGENTS' EVIDENCE

AUSTIN - With dozens of drug convictions under review in the controversial 
Tulia sting, lawmakers are considering bills that would require undercover 
officers to gather more evidence in order to prosecute drug cases.

Civil rights groups are pushing the bills in light of a judge's 
recommendation that the convictions of 38 mostly black defendants from the 
Panhandle farm town should be dismissed because they were based on 
questionable testimony from a single undercover agent accused of racial 
prejudice.

Under bills before both the House and Senate, investigators would need to 
produce some kind of corroborating evidence to support an undercover 
officer's testimony in order to gain a conviction. In short, they need 
something to prove the undercover agent isn't making the whole thing up. 
Civil rights groups such as the Americans Civil Liberties Union and the 
League of United Latin American Citizens support the bills. Some law 
enforcement groups, however, say it places a new, sometimes dangerous, 
burden on police.

"The Tulia incident has certainly brought a lot of attention to the issue 
but we would point out it was the failure of more than just the agent but a 
failure of the entire criminal justice system," said Brazos County Sheriff 
Chris Kirk, a spokesman for the Sheriff's Association of Texas.

Civil rights groups have protested the 1999 Tulia bust, which brought 
international attention and questions about the way the state's drug task 
forces conduct investigations.

Many of the cases were based solely on the testimony of officer Tom 
Coleman, who said he spent 18 months working undercover to make drug cases 
against a large portion of the town's black population.

Coleman, who is no longer in law enforcement, worked alone and used no 
audio or video surveillance, often writing notes about alleged drug buys on 
his legs. Little or no corroborating evidence was introduced.
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