BILLS SPURRED BY DRUG BUST LAND IN HOUSE

AUSTIN -- Legislation inspired by a controversial 1999 Tulia drug bust
was considered by a House panel Tuesday, the day after the same bills
were discussed in a Senate committee.

The bills stem from a legislative initiative known as The Tulia
Proposals, a package of three measures.

Two of three proposals are in the form of legislative bills. One bill
would require a judge to admit any evidence into a trial that could
prove a defendant's innocence. The second bill requires undercover
officers to offer corroborating evidence to support their testimony.

The bills, drafted by the Texas chapter of the American Civil Liberties
Union and the National Association for the Advancement of Colored
People, were left pending Tuesday by the House Committee on Criminal
Jurisprudence. A vote wasn't scheduled.

Carried by state Rep. Juan Hinojosa, D-McAllen, House Bill 1643 and
House Bill 3251 were in response to drug bust in Tulia, where an
undercover police officer without evidence arrested 43 suspects -- 39 of
whom were black.

Will Harrell, executive director of the Texas chapter of the American
Civil Liberties Union, said the bills are being presented to prevent a
similar incident.

Freddie Brookins Sr., a Tulia man, said his son was arrested that night
and he is now serving a 20-year sentence because of the testimony of the
undercover officer and little else.

"I hear a lot about a man's word and an officer's word, and I am giving
you my word," he said. "The things that happened in Tulia should never
happen anywhere else."

Gary Gardner, a West Texas farmer, testified on behalf of the bills,
telling the committee that he was appalled to see his friends on
television in their underwear. They were not allowed to get dressed
before they were escorted to the police station late that night.

"I didn't want anything for these kids I wouldn't want for my own," he
said. "Would they want their sons or daughters convicted only on one
man's word?"

Chuck Knoll, a Harris County prosecutor, said he opposes the measures
because limiting a judge's discretion on what could be admitted as
evidence could open trials to irrelevant evidence.

For example, a rapist could argue he attacked because his victim was
dressed seductively, Knoll said.

He also said peace officers shouldn't have to follow the same
requirements as informants when gathering evidence. Currently,
informants must have a police officer witness the operation.

"It's saying that we will trust you when you have a uniform on, but when
you take that off (to go undercover), we don't believe you," he said.

A third Tulia Proposal measure allows letters of resignation and
termination to be made public if the dismissal or resignation was
because of allegations of excessive force or a violation of law.

It is scheduled to be heard today in a Senate committee.