COUNTY WON'T AID TULIA PROSECUTOR

DA Had Requested Funding To Help Pay Legal Costs Of Grievance

TULIA, Texas -(AP)- County officials voted unanimously to deny giving money
to the Swisher County district attorney who prosecuted the Tulia drug cases
and is now fighting a State Bar of Texas grievance.

Swisher County Judge Harold Keeter said Terry McEachern requested a special
session Thursday to ask the commission to help pay for the legal cost of
fighting a grievance based on Mr. McEachern's role in the controversial 1999
Tulia drug sting.

Mr. McEachern asked commissioners for $5,000 to hire a lawyer to review and
assemble documents amassed during cases he built against 38 defendants in
the Tulia undercover drug investigation of 1998 to 1999, the Lubbock
Avalanche-Journal reported.

"This is strictly a personal grievance against the district attorney and his
law license," Judge Keeter said. "It's not directed at Swisher County. We
have no standing in the grievance and no stake in it."

Mr. McEachern said he would like to comment, but state bar rules forbid him
from speaking about any aspect of the matter, the Amarillo Globe-News
reported.

Mr. McEachern was the prosecutor on all of the cases filed against 46
people, 39 of them black, who were arrested in 1999 after an 18-month
investigation conducted by undercover agent Tom Coleman.

After years of legal wrangling, the cases fell apart April 1 when visiting
Judge Ron Chapman called a halt to evidentiary hearings he was conducting in
Tulia.

Judge Chapman then issued findings that Mr. Coleman had lied on the stand
and the state, represented by Mr. McEachern, had improperly failed to turn
over evidence favorable to the defense during the trials.

Mr. Coleman has since been indicted for perjury, and the Texas Board of
Pardons and Paroles this week recommended the governor sign pardons for
nearly all the defendants.

According to a letter sent by the county's insurance carrier, Professional
Claims Managers Inc., to Swisher County Judge Harold Keeter, the State Bar
has initiated a grievance against Mr. McEachern.

The State Bar alleges that Mr. McEachern attempted to bolster Mr. Coleman's
testimony, failed to disclose certain aspects of the investigation and
background regarding Mr. Coleman, made false representations during the
criminal trials and failed to turn over evidence that would have helped the
defendants, the letter states.

Mark Pinckard, who is with the bar's disciplinary action arm, said he cannot
comment on investigations.