ROUND TWO IN TULIA

"The Drug War is not a war on drugs, it's a war on people," G. Alan
Robinson of the Drug Policy Forum of Texas told a small crowd assembled on
the Capitol steps in Austin. If the sentiment on this hot September
afternoon is any indication, the people are beginning to fight back - and
Ground Zero of the struggle is a tiny town in the Texas Panhandle that is
fast becoming a household name. The star attraction at the September 29
rally were the Tulia "war orphans": roughly two dozen children of parents
arrested in the now notorious 1999 cocaine bust in Tulia, Texas, a tiny
panhandle ranching town near Amarillo.

The undercover operation resulted in the arrest of about three dozen
African Americans, or over ten percent of the town's small black population
(see "The Color of Justice," by Nate Blakeslee, June 23). Thus far,
twenty-two of the defendants have gone to prison, some following trials and
some as a result of plea bargains. Many are serving very long sentences,
despite the relatively small amounts they were accused of selling. The kids
they left behind appeared at the Capitol dressed in matching black T-shirts
printed with the gold "Friends of Justice" logo adopted by local
organizers. For many, it was their first trip out of the Panhandle. Some
may not want to go back.

Still, there was cause for hope. flanked by Tulians, Texas ACLU director
Will Harrell announced the imminent filing of a lawsuit on behalf of the
defendants. The suit, written by Amarillo attorney Jeff Blackburn, accuses
the local sheriff and the district attorney of conspiring with undercover
agent Tom Coleman to "deliberately and selectively target and prosecute" on
the basis of race. The suit was initially filed on behalf of one defendant,
Yul Bryant, who served seven months in jail before having his case
dismissed by a judge. Bryant's case, like virtually all of the cases in the
sting, rested almost entirely on the testimony of undercover agent Tom
Coleman. But Coleman's physical description of Bryant in his report was
nowhere near accurate, and the district attorney was forced to drop the
charges, calling it a case of "mistaken identity." Bryant's was not the
only case with significant inconsistencies. Blackburn said he expects other
clients - some awaiting trial and some already convicted - to join the case
in the coming months. The civil suit will allow what law enforcement
officials in Tulia have feared all along, according to Blackburn: a
wide-ranging deposition of undercover agent Tom Coleman, whose own past and
motives have come under increasing scrutiny.

Led by a small group of black and white Tulians, supporters of the Tulia
defendants have managed to catch the attention of the William Kuntsler
Foundation, a New York City-based non-profit that works on criminal justice
issues, which has provided funding and guidance to the group. Shortly after
the rally in Austin, the organizing paid off. With the foundation's help,
Friends of Justice has generated national media attention for their cause,
culminating in a feature story on CNN, a front-page story in The New York
Times, and an upcoming spread in Time magazine (see editorial, page 3).

Meanwhile, back in Tulia, District Attorney Terry McEachern and company
have obtained another conviction. Kareem Abdul Jabbar White went to trial
at the Swisher County Courthouse on September 5. The evidence against him
was the same as virtually every other case: Coleman's testimony - in this
case abetted by a state's witness, Eliga Kelly - and a small baggie of
powdered cocaine. And Coleman's testimony (summarized in an unofficial
transcript provided to the Observer) was just as fuzzy and contradictory as
it has been in previous trials.

For example, the state's only two material witnesses, Coleman and Eliga
Kelly, cannot agree on who was present when the deal with White allegedly
occurred. Kelly, who was Coleman's unwitting contact to Tulia's black
community, alleged that he introduced the officer (Kelly did not know his
identity at the time) to White, and that he was present in Coleman's truck
when White handed something - allegedly cocaine - to Coleman. But Coleman
later testified that Kelly was not present when the deal occurred.

Under questioning by White's attorney, Dwight McDonald, Coleman also had
difficulty recalling the sequence of events on the day in question. Coleman
claimed to have made the deal with White in Tulia at 10:30 in the morning
on September 28, 1998. Asked where he was earlier that day, Coleman said he
was in Amarillo, having a cup of coffee. He then drove to Tulia, made the
deal with White, and then promptly returned to Amarillo. Coleman testified
that he always returned to Amarillo after making a buy in Tulia, so that he
could turn the drugs over to the evidence vault at the Amarillo Police
Department, where the 'Panhandle Narcotics Task Force was head-quartered,
and make his report. He never made two buys in a row without first turning
over the evidence from the first buy, he testified.

But as McDonald pointed out, Coleman had actually filed two reports
alleging transactions with two different suspects on the same day,
September 28, only about an hour apart. At the time he testified he was
drinking coffee in Amarillo, about 9:30 AM, Coleman's own report has him
making a deal with a Willie B. Hall in Tulia. Assuming the report was
correct (and not Coleman's memory), how did he manage to drive the fifty
miles to Amarillo, file the report, and drive back to make the deal with
White, all in less than an hour? Pressed on he point, Coleman simply
changed his story on the stand, as he has done several times, according to
defense attorneys. (Coleman's alleged perjury and conflicting testimony in
the various trials will be one focus of the civil suit.)

White's trial was significant in that it marked the first time defense
attorneys were allowed to call witnesses concerning Coleman's character and
past reputation. McDonald brought out his star witnesses: two former
investigators who served with Coleman in past law enforcement assignments,
as well as Coleman's previous boss, former Cochran County Sheriff Kenneth
Burke.

It was Burke who had written a letter to the state agency that licenses
peace officers concerning Coleman's poor reputation in Cochran County,
where he worked as a deputy sheriff from 1995 to 1996. Coleman left the job
abruptly, in the middle of his shift, without returning his patrol car. The
Sheriff later discovered that Coleman had left town owing thousands of
dollars to area merchants, and was eventually moved to file charges on
Coleman for theft. This warrant surfaced when Coleman was employed in
Tulia, though he was not fired, but instead given time to "resolve" the
situation.

Burke, along with the two investigators, testified that Coleman was
untruthful. But District Attorney Terry McEachern brought in several law
officers, including two Texas Rangers (friends of Coleman's deceased
father, a famous Ranger from West Texas), who testified to Coleman's
reliability and trustworthiness.

In the end, the result was the same. Although he was accused of one count
of delivering only an eight-ball of cocaine (about $200 worth), the charge
was enhanced because of a prior conviction. White got 60 years.