HOUSE CAN DO ITS PART TODAY TO FREE TULIA 13

Like a skilled quarterback in a fourth-and-long situation, state Rep.
Terry Keel, R-Austin, executed two heads-up plays this weekend to keep
alive legislation that would grant bail to the Tulia 13.

A Senate bill that would have freed the wrongfully convicted
defendants was in jeopardy of expiring before the House could take it
up, blocked behind other legislation. With time running out in the
House to pass bills, Keel, chairman of the House Jurisprudence
Committee, busted the logjam by advancing the bill to the head of the
line and then passing a separate amendment that also would free Tulia
defendants. Keel's bold maneuvers provide two avenues to freedom for
the Tulia 13. Senate Bill 1948 - the bill Keel rescued - is the better
of the two. It would allow a district judge in Swisher County, the
defendants' home county, to grant bail immediately. By contrast, the
amendment would not take effect until Sept. 1.

We have no doubt that the Tulia 13 ultimately will be freed, if not by
the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals, then by the Texas Board of
Pardons and Paroles. The latter is evaluating whether Tulia defendants
should be pardoned or granted clemency. But those actions can take
weeks, months, or in the court's case, up to two years. Allowing them
to suffer in prison only rubs salt in wounds inflicted by a
dysfunctional Texas justice system. The 13 defendants - who were
unable to make pre-trial bail - have been imprisoned since their
arrests in 1999.

Forty-six Tulia residents, including 39 African Americans, were
arrested in a bogus 1999 drug sting by then-undercover law officer Tom
Coleman. Thirty-eight were convicted on the uncorroborated testimony
of Coleman, who targeted Tulia's African American community. Coleman
has not only been thoroughly discredited, but indicted on felony
perjury charges related to the case. State District Judge Ron Chapman,
who presided over evidentiary hearings in March, concluded that
Coleman's testimony was "riddled with perjury and purposely evasive
answers."

Chapman described Coleman as "the most devious, nonresponsive law
enforcement witness this Court has witnessed in 25 years on the bench."

Thanks to Sen. John Whitmire, D-Houston, who authored SB 1948, and to
Keel, the Tulia 13 can be freed as early as this week if the House
passes SB 1948 today. It requires a two-thirds vote from the House and
the signature of Gov. Rick Perry to take effect immediately.

The House should not hesitate to follow their Senate collegues and
pass SB 1948 with the margin it needs to take immediate effect, and
Perry should sign it. But the repairs to the state's damaged criminal
justice system only begin with that basic correction of a horrible
miscarriage of justice.

We again urge the State Bar of Texas to investigate whether Swisher
County District Attorney Terry McEachern abused or violated
professional conduct rules that require prosecutors to make timely
disclosure to the defense of all information known to the prosecutor
that would negate the guilt of people accused of crimes. Legal
findings to the Court of Criminal Appeals indicate this didn't happen
for Tulia defendants, and that impaired their ability to get fair trails.

The breakdown of justice goes further than the rogue cop and
overzealous prosecutor. There is the issue of regional, stand-alone
drug task forces that aren't accountable to anyone. It was such a task
force that hired Coleman and turned him loose on a hapless African
American community in Tulia. Keel is pushing a proposal to rein in
such drug task forces by denying them state funding if they fail to
reform their structures. House lawmakers should pass the amendment to
SB 1952.

Freedom is just around the corner for the 13 defendants, including a
mother who has been separated from her two young children for 4 1/2
years. With their votes, House members can help send Kizzie White and
12 others home. They certainly don't belong in prison - and never did
- - for crimes they didn't commit.