PERRY PARDONS 35 PEOPLE IN 1999 TULIA DRUG BUSTS

When Kizzie White Applies For A Job Next Week, The Information On Her
Application Form Will Be Different.

The 26-year-old mother of two was one of 38 defendants convicted in a Tulia
drug sting on the word of an undercover agent later charged with perjury.
Friday, she and 34 other involved in the bust were granted pardons by Gov.
Rick Perry.

"We actually can put on our application 'never been convicted of a felony'"
White said. "I'm really free, and I thank God I am."

In issuing the pardons, Perry said he was influenced by questions about the
testimony of Tom Coleman, the only undercover agent involved in the July
1999 busts.

Coleman worked alone and used no audio or video surveillance to
substantiate drug buys he said he made from 46 people from Tulia, a small
town of about 5,100 residents 60 miles north of Lubbock.

Of the 46 people arrested, 39 were black, which led civil rights groups to
question if the busts were racially motivated.

In June, Perry signed a bill allowing the release of the 12 Tulia
defendants who were still in prison. Last month, the Texas Board of Pardons
and Paroles was asked by Perry to review the cases and unanimously
recommended the pardons.

A judge this spring ruled that Coleman was "simply not a credible witness"
and recommended the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals overturn the
convictions of the 38 people prosecuted and order new trials.

Coleman faces a preliminary hearing next month on perjury charges stemming
from testimony he gave at the spring hearings.

White and her brother, Kareem White, celebrated Friday in the small
Panhandle town about 70 miles north of Lubbock.

"We were yelling and screaming in the middle of the streets," Kizzie White
said. "I'm very excited."

Freddie Brookins Jr. had been sentenced to 20 years in prison on Coleman's
word and was one of the 12 released by Perry in June.

Since then, he said he's been turned away from several job opportunities.
"By this happening, hopefully we'll be able to get jobs," he said.

Now, he has plans to enroll in college in nearby Amarillo and earn a
business management degree.

Kizzie White said her goal of getting a nursing degree will include fewer
hurdles now.

"I'm ready, and I'm going Monday morning" to apply for jobs and admission
to Amarillo College, she said.

Of those convicted but not pardoned, one is on deferred probation and two
were not eligible to seek pardons because of convictions on other charges.

Also Friday, two women who were indicted but never prosecuted after the
drug busts filed a lawsuit in an Amarillo federal district court against
law enforcement officials. Drug charges against Zuri Bossett and Tonya
White were dropped last year after they proved they were not in Tulia at
the time Coleman claimed he bought drugs from them.

The women sued Coleman, Swisher County and its sheriff, Larry Stewart,
prosecutor Terry McEachern and several officials with a narcotics task
force in Amarillo that worked with Coleman.

The women, who did not specify damages in their lawsuit, said the officials
violated their civil rights and directed racial bias against Tulia's black
population. Coleman's attorney did not immediately return calls for
comment. Stewart declined to comment. McEachern said he hadn't seen the
lawsuit and couldn't comment, and officials at the task force were unavailable.

Swisher County officials approved a $250,000 settlement for those
imprisoned on Coleman's word in exchange for the defendants promising not
to sue the county. Bossett and White did not receive any of the settlement
because charges against them were dropped.