PERRY ASKS PAROLE BOARD TO REVIEW TULIA CONVICTIONS

Gov. Rick Perry today stepped for the first time into the controversy
surrounding the 1999 Tulia drug busts, asking the Texas Board of Pardons
and Paroles to immediately review the cases of 38 people convicted in cases
built by a now-discredited undercover agent.

"I urge you to begin an expeditious investigation into each of these cases
and recommend whether a pardon, commutation of sentence of other clemency
action is appropriate and just," Perry said in a statement. He asked that
the board give the highest priority to the cases of the 13 people still
imprisoned.

His action comes after he reviewed a filing to the Texas Court of Criminal
Appeals that concluded that Tom Coleman, the sole undercover agent in the
busts, was not a credible witness.

The filing was prompted by evidentiary hearings ordered by the appeals
court in four of the cases, which were held in March and April in Tulia at
which Coleman, 43, testified.

"These documents represent the first independent legal analysis on the
so-called 'Tulia drug arrests' available to my office for review," Perry
said. "After reviewing this information, I have grave concerns about the
potential miscarriage of justice in cases based on testimony from a sole
witness whose truthfulness is in doubt."

The 129-page filing submitted to the appeals court said Coleman's "blatant
perjury" during the prosecutions "so undermines the court's confidence in
the validity of the convictions that it would be a travesty of justice to
permit the applicants' convictions to stand."

Although the defendants have not sought clemency from the governor's
office, state law grants the governor the authority to ask the board to
investigate cases, Perry's statement said.

The Texas Attorney General's Office and the U.S. Justice Department have
also been investigating the case.

To one of the numerous attorneys representing the Tulia defendants -- all
working pro bono -- the governor's action falls short of what is needed.

"We're pleased that the governor is taking action," said Vanita Gupta, an
attorney for the NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund, Inc.

Jeff Blackburn, an Amarillo attorney who was in Austin on Monday and spoke
with several legislators about the cases, said "it's clear that there is
real outrage over what happened in Tulia in all branches of state
government now."

"It's unfortunate that it has taken them this long to catch up with what
we've been doing for the last three years, but it's encouraging that
Perry's office has finally gotten onboard."

Coleman's work led to the arrest of 46 people, 39 of them black. During his
18-month undercover operation he used no audio or video surveillance. Civil
rights groups have claimed the busts were racially motivated.

It was Coleman's uncorroborated testimony that resulted in prison terms for
many of the 38 who were prosecuted. Some cases went to trial; others took
plea agreements after seeing the lengthy sentences given in early trials.

Coleman no longer is in law enforcement.

The presiding judge at the evidentiary hearings, retired judge Ron Chapman
of Dallas, halted the proceedings April 1, saying Coleman was "simply not a
credible witness under oath." He also said he was recommending to the
appeals court that the convictions of the 38 people prosecuted should be
thrown out and new trials ordered.

Rod Hobson, a special prosecutor assigned to the case, has said there would
be no new trials.

The appeals court could take months to rule.

On Monday, a bill that would allow the 13 people still in prison to be
released passed out of a Senate committee and awaits action by the full
Senate. The bill would permit the Swisher County District Court to release
the 13 on bond pending final action by the appeals court.

Last week, the chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, U.S. Rep. James
Sensenbrenner, R-Wis., announced he would investigate the Tulia busts.