Pubdate: Thu,  5 Jun 2003
Source: Amarillo Globe-News (TX)
Copyright: 2003 Amarillo Globe-News
Contact:  http://amarillonet.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/13
Author: Greg Cunningham

13 TO RECEIVE BOND ON JUNE 16

TULIA - In a remarkable reversal of fortune, 13 people will walk out of the 
Swisher County Courthouse on June 16 as free men and women, passing through 
the same doors that saw them leave as prisoners in shackles four years earlier.

The shedding of those shackles will not come through the completion of a 
prison sentence or an order of parole but under the auspices of a bill 
enacted by the Texas Legislature to help unite families that have waited 
four years for their loved ones to go free.

The 13 prisoners will receive bond at a hearing that will nearly clear 
Texas prisons of everyone convicted during the discredited 1999 Tulia drug 
sting. One prisoner - William Cash Love - will remain in prison because his 
case is on direct appeal and he is not eligible for bond.

"The symbolic power of what we expect to happen at this hearing is vast," 
said Amarillo attorney Jeff Blackburn, who has fought to overturn the 
convictions for the past three years. "This will be more justice than the 
courthouse in Tulia has seen in a long, long time."

Blackburn confirmed Wednesday that Visiting Judge Ron Chapman scheduled 
bond hearings on June 16 in Tulia to secure the release of the 13 prisoners 
while they wait for the court of criminal appeals to adjudicate their cases.

Chapman is the one who called a halt to evidentiary hearings in March after 
he determined that the agent who conducted the investigation, Tom Coleman, 
was not a credible witness and had committed perjury in his testimony.

That process could take months or even years, so the Texas Legislature 
acted this session to pass a bill that would allow the 13 to be freed on bond.

"I dreamed about a day where we would liberate everybody in one fell 
swoop," Blackburn said. "But I never believed, given the way the system 
worked in Swisher County, that that would happen. We were looking at years 
and years of piecemeal victories. Now we're looking at one very large victory."
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MAP posted-by: Larry Stevens