RELEASE NEAR FOR TULIA DEFENDANTS

The Tulia residents imprisoned during a controversial 1999 drug sweep should
be released on bail after a June 16 hearing at the Swisher County
courthouse, the defense said Wednesday.

The hearing comes just days after Gov. Rick Perry signed into law
legislation that permits 14 Tulia residents to post bail and be released
from prison while they appeal their convictions. Perry called their
convictions "a miscarriage of justice."

Amarillo attorney Jeff Blackburn said June 16 was the earliest a hearing
could be scheduled because the inmates must be brought back to Swisher
County from prisons across the state. Blackburn said he intends to ask that
the Tulia residents be released on their own recognizance without posting
cash bonds.

Special prosecutor Rod Hobson said he will not challenge the request for
recognizance bonds. Blackburn said he is confident the inmates will be
freed.

"They're walking out of there. It's going to be a Kodak moment," Blackburn
said.

Forty-six Tulia residents were arrested when a lone undercover police
officer said they had sold him cocaine. Thirty-nine of the defendants are
black; the undercover police officer is white.

Thirty-eight people were convicted and sentenced to punishments ranging from
probation to 99 years in prison. Blackburn said there are currently 14
people imprisoned because of the sweep. The number can fluctuate, Blackburn
said, because some people have completed their sentences or been paroled and
others have been sent to prison for violating the terms of their probation
or parole.

The prosecutions were put on hold after questions were raised about the
quality of the police work.

The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals ordered a hearing on the drug sweep
after it was revealed the undercover officer, Tom Coleman, provided no
evidence to corroborate his testimony. Coleman also faced criminal charges
of his own in another jurisdiction and he was verifiably wrong in at least
one of the drug cases.

One woman charged in the sting had a bank document showing she was cashing a
check in Oklahoma City on the day and around the time Coleman said she was
selling him cocaine in Tulia, 250 miles away.

Retired state District Judge Ron Chapman conducted the hearing that examined
the Tulia drug sweep and concluded that Coleman's testimony was not
credible. Chapman recommended that the Court of Criminal Appeals overturn
all convictions.

The Court of Criminal Appeals is reviewing the cases.

Coleman was indicted in April on charges he lied under oath.

The Tulia defendants also are pursuing pardons. Blackburn said he expects
the Board of Pardons and Parole to make recommendations in the cases by
summer's end.