STATE PAYS TULIA DEFENDANT

Attorney Has Filed for Wrongful Imprisonment Funds for 18 More

At least one defendant in the discredited 1999 Tulia drug busts has
received money from the state for wrongful imprisonment, and a West
Texas attorney representing 18 others expects more to receive money.

"We believe and hope they'll be paid," Plainview lawyer Brent Hamilton
said Monday. "We do believe that the claims met the
requirements."

Forty-six people, 39 of them black, were arrested on drug charges in
Tulia in July 1999, leading civil rights groups to question whether
the busts were racially motivated. The sting involved undercover agent
Tom Coleman, who is white and worked alone without audio or video
surveillance. The case focused an international spotlight on the small
farming and ranching town of about 5,000 between Amarillo and Lubbock.

A judge recommended that a higher court throw out the convictions in
April 2003, and Gov. Rick Perry pardoned 35 of the defendants on Aug.
22, 2003.

Kareem White received the first of two equal payments last week for
the nearly four years he was behind bars, Mr. Hamilton said. The
statute governing such claims allows recipients $25,000 a year. Mr.
White's $49,999.98 check covered half of the time he was incarcerated,
Mr. Hamilton said.

Mr. White, who still lives in Tulia, said Monday that he feels he
deserves the money. Mr. Hamilton filed Mr. White's request in June.

"I feel all right about it. I think I might get another rent house,"
said Mr. White, who has two rental properties.

Claims for 18 others ensnared in the sting were filed in mid-August
before expiration of the three-year statute of limitations from when
Mr. Perry issued his pardons. Some spent more time in prison than Mr.
White, some less, Mr. Hamilton said.

In the year after the pardons, 45 of those who were arrested shared a
$6 million settlement in a civil rights lawsuit brought against the
agencies involved in the drug task force for which Mr. Coleman worked.

Mr. Hamilton said the statute governing wrongful imprisonment allows
for either a lawsuit against the state or an administrative claim to
the Texas comptroller of public accounts.

"We felt like this was the better route to take," Mr. Hamilton
said.

There are probation and parole issues with seven of the 18 defendant
claims filed this month, and the comptroller's office has asked the
office of the Texas attorney general for an opinion on one of them,
documents show.

The attorney general will decide whether Jason Paul Fry, who was on
probation for an unrelated drug charge at the time of his Tulia
arrest, is eligible for damages for wrongful imprisonment.

The statute states that a person serving a concurrent sentence for
another crime is not entitled to compensation, a letter from
Comptroller Carole Keeton Strayhorn to the attorney general's office
states.

"Technically, this statutory language appears to disqualify Mr. Fry
from entitlement to any compensation," the letter states. "However,
the inequity is that it was his wrongful arrest and conviction for the
Tulia drug charge that caused his probation in Potter County to be
revoked."

Billy Hamilton, the deputy comptroller who is not related to the
defendants' attorney, said the attorney general's opinion will be
applied to the others with probation and parole issues.

"Everyone will be treated the same," Billy Hamilton said. "Obviously
the local DA has concluded and the governor has concluded that a wrong
has been done. The AG will decide the law for us."

The attorney general's office has 180 days to issue its opinion,
spokesman Tom Kelley said.