PERRY WANTS REVIEW OF CONVICTIONS IN 1999 STING

Parole Panel Ordered to Make Recommendations in 38 Cases

AUSTIN -- One day after a Senate committee advanced legislation to
free the remaining Tulia drug-sting defendants from prison, Gov. Rick
Perry on Tuesday ordered the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles to
review all 38 of the Tulia convictions.

Breaking a long silence on the controversial 1999 arrests, Perry asked
the board to "recommend whether a pardon, commutation of sentence or
other clemency action is appropriate and just."

Perry's office said the governor contacted the parole board after
reviewing the findings of a judge who recommended that the Texas Court
of Criminal Appeals overturn all 38 convictions and order new trials.

In his report to the appellate court, retired state District Judge Ron
Chapman, who presided over evidentiary hearings in March, found that
the only witness against the defendants, undercover officer Tom
Coleman, was guilty of "blatant perjury" during the Tulia
prosecutions.

"It would be a travesty of justice to permit ... the convictions to
stand," Chapman wrote.

Perry, who received a copy of Chapman's findings last week, voiced
"grave concerns about the potential miscarriage of justice."

Although the drug convictions have received extensive media attention
in recent years, the governor said Chapman's findings "represent the
first independent legal analysis on the so-called 'Tulia drug arrests'
available to my office for review."

Forty-six Tulia residents, 39 of whom are black, were arrested in the
drug sting, and 38 were convicted on Coleman's testimony.

Special prosecutors hired to help Swisher County with the cases
stipulated during the evidentiary hearings that Coleman -- who has
since been indicted for perjury -- was not a credible witness.

Prosecutors have said the cases would be dismissed if the Court of
Criminal Appeals orders new trials. But the appellate court's review
could take as long as two years, some officials say.

Sen. John Whitmire, D-Houston, has filed legislation, Senate Bill
1948, to permit a district judge in Swisher County to release on bond
13 Tulia residents who are still in prison while the appellate court
deliberates their cases.

The Senate Criminal Justice Committee, which Whitmire chairs, approved
the bill Monday after the Tulia special prosecutors testified for it.
Whitmire said the full Senate may approve it today.

Whitmire applauded the governor's directive to the parole board but
said the panel's review will take time. He said his own bill still
needed to be passed to speed up the Tulia defendants' releases.

"If we pass my bill, 13 innocent people locked up in prison will be
able to post bond and go home," Whitmire said.

The senator said there was still time to also get the bill through the
House, despite a walkout by Democratic lawmakers that is expected to
keep the House shut down through at least Thursday night.

Bills that originate in the Senate, such as Whitmire's, have more time
to pass the House than do House bills as the session begins to wind
down. Lawmakers will adjourn June 2.

If approved by two-thirds of the Senate and two-thirds of the House
and signed by the governor, Whitmire's Tulia bill would go into effect
immediately. If approved by lesser margins, it would go into effect
Sept. 1.

"I will continue to work with him (Perry) until these people are
released," Whitmire said.