VICTIM OF DISCREDITED DRUG STING IN TULIA GETS STATE COMPENSATION

At least one defendant in the discredited Tulia drug busts has
received money from the state for wrongful imprisonment, and a West
Texas attorney representing 18 others expects more to receive money.

"We believe and hope they'll be paid," Plainview attorney Brent
Hamilton said Monday. "We do believe that the claims met the requirements."

Forty-six people, 39 of them black, were arrested on drug charges in
Tulia in July 1999, leading civil rights groups to question if the
busts were racially motivated.

The sting involved one undercover agent, Tom Coleman, who is white
and worked alone without audio or video surveillance.

The case focused an international spotlight on the small farming and
ranching town of about 5,000 between Amarillo and Lubbock.

A judge recommended a higher court throw out the convictions in April
2003, and Gov. Rick Perry pardoned 35 of the defendants Aug. 22, 2003.

Kareem White received the first of two equal payments last week for
the nearly four years he was behind bars, Hamilton said.

The statute governing such claims allows recipients $25,000 a year.
White's check for $49,999.98 covered half of the time he was
incarcerated, Hamilton said.

White, who still lives in Tulia, said Monday that he feels he
deserves the money. Hamilton filed White's request in June.

Claims for 18 others ensnared in the sting were filed in mid-August
before expiration of the three-year statute of limitations, which
began when Perry issued his pardons.

Some spent more time in prison than White, some less, Hamilton said.

In the year after Perry's pardons, 45 of those who were arrested
shared a $6 million settlement in a civil rights lawsuit brought
against the agencies involved in the drug task force for which Coleman worked.

The statute governing wrongful imprisonment allows for a lawsuit
against the state or an administrative claim to the comptroller, Hamilton said.

"We felt like this was the better route to take," he said.

There are probation and parole issues with seven of the 18 defendant
claims filed this month, and the comptroller's office has asked the
state attorney general's office for an opinion on one of them, documents show.

The attorney general will decide whether Jason Paul Fry, who was on
probation for an unrelated drug charge at the time of his Tulia
arrest, is eligible for damages for wrongful imprisonment.