Pubdate: Wed, 24 Mar 2004
Source: Houston Chronicle (TX)
Copyright: 2004 Houston Chronicle Publishing Company Division, Hearst Newspaper
Contact:  http://www.chron.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/198
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/tulia.htm (Tulia, Texas)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/corrupt.htm (Corruption - United States)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?118 (Perjury)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/people/Terry+McEachern (McEachern, D.A. Terry)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/people/Tom+Coleman (Coleman, Tom)

STATE BAR GOES AFTER PROSECUTOR IN TULIA DRUG BUST

TULIA (AP) -- State Bar of Texas officials intend to file a lawsuit seeking 
sanctions against the prosecutor in the controversial 1999 Tulia drug bust.

The case against Terry McEachern will be heard in a Panhandle district 
court and could range in punishment from a public reprimand to loss of his 
law license, if the finding goes against him, said Dawn Miller, chief 
disciplinary counsel with the State Bar of Texas.

"Without going into any details, you can assume that if a case has gotten 
to a point where a lawyer has elected to have the case heard in district 
court, that means an investigative panel of a grievance committee found 
just cause to believe a lawyer had committed misconduct," Miller said.

The suit will be filed in Texas Supreme Court in the next couple of weeks, 
she said.

McEachern declined to comment about the suit due to secrecy rules, but said 
he still believes in the prosecutions.

"I still feel the same way I did back then," McEachern told the Amarillo 
Globe-News in Wednesday's editions. "Of course, looking back, I would have 
done some things differently. But it's easy playing Monday morning 
quarterback."

McEachern, who lost his bid for re-election in the Republican primary 
earlier this month, prosecuted all the cases in the since-discredited 
undercover drug investigation in Tulia that netted 46 people, 39 of them 
black, and brought controversy and an international spotlight to Tulia.

The State Bar opened an investigation into McEachern's conduct during his 
prosecutions in July.

The bar alleged McEachern attempted to bolster the testimony of Tom 
Coleman, the lone undercover agent whose uncorroborated evidence led to 
imprisonment for many of those arrested, according to a letter from Swisher 
County's insurance carrier, Professional Claims Managers Inc., the Lubbock 
Avalanche-Journal reported in Wednesday's editions.

Also alleged was that McEachern failed to disclose certain elements of the 
investigation and of Coleman's background, made false representations 
during the criminal trials and failed to turn over evidence that could have 
been beneficial to the defendants, according to the letter.

In August, Gov. Rick Perry pardoned 35 of those prosecuted. The city of 
Amarillo earlier this month settled a civil right lawsuit for $5 million 
and agreed to effectively disband the task force to which Coleman was 
assigned. Other entities in the suit are continuing settlement talks.

Coleman is set to go to trial in May on perjury charges that stemmed from 
testimony he gave at evidentiary hearings in March 2003.
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