SWISHER COMMISSION TURNS DOWN MCEACHERN REQUEST

TULIA - Embattled district attorney Terry McEachern asked the Swisher
County commission for help fighting a State Bar of Texas grievance
Thursday, but county officials said they had to turn him down.

Swisher County Judge Harold Keeter said McEachern requested a special
session Thursday to ask the commission to help pay for the legal cost of
fighting a grievance based on McEachern's role in the controversial 1999
Tulia drug sting. The board voted unanimously to deny the request.

"This is strictly a personal grievance against the district attorney and
his law license," Keeter said. "It's not directed at Swisher County. We
have no standing in the grievance and no stake in it."

McEachern said he would like to comment, but state bar rules forbid him
from speaking about any aspect of the matter.

McEachern was the prosecutor on all of the cases filed against 46 people,
39 of them black, who were arrested in 1999 after an 18-month investigation
conducted by undercover agent Tom Coleman.

After years of legal wrangling, the cases fell apart in March when visiting
Judge Ron Chapman called a halt to evidentiary hearings he was conducting
in Tulia. Chapman then issued findings that Coleman had lied on the stand
and the state, represented by McEachern, had improperly failed to turn over
evidence favorable to the defense during the trials. Coleman has since been
indicted for perjury, and the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles this week
recommended the governor sign pardons for nearly all the defendants.

Little is known about the grievance before the state bar, other than
Keeter's statement that it relates to the Tulia drug sting. A bar spokesman
said all complaints are kept secret until the bar takes action against an
attorney. The spokesman could neither confirm nor deny the existence of any
grievance against McEachern.

The State Bar of Texas is an administrative section of the state's
judiciary that has the power to investigate attorneys for misconduct and
take action against them, which can include the revocation of law licenses.

Defense attorney Jeff Blackburn said Thursday none of the attorneys
fighting against the Tulia bust had filed a grievance against McEachern.
Blackburn said a grievance could have been generated internally by the bar,
especially given damning statements made against McEachern in Chapman's
findings of facts, which were released in May.

"Although we didn't file any grievances against Mr. McEachern, I would not
be surprised if the state bar took action on its own," Blackburn said.

"We proved beyond any doubt that Mr. McEachern was directly involved in
suppressing evidence and suborning perjury. I base that on the findings
entered by judge Chapman. There's no question that action should be taken
against prosecutors who break the rules like this."

The findings of fact allege McEachern committed the following questionable
acts:

n The state knew or should have known at the time of the trials Coleman
"had a reputation for dishonesty, for disobeying the law, and for
abdicating his duties and responsibilities as a peace officer in multiple
communities."

n The state "did not disclose to defense counsel that Coleman committed
crimes of dishonesty in Cochran County, namely theft and abuse of official
capacity."

n McEachern in several trials made statements about Coleman's record to the
jury that would tend to bolster the agent's credibility when McEachern knew
Coleman had been indicted on charges from Cochran County.

n At the trial of William Cash Love, McEachern said he was willing to sign
an affidavit that he did not know about Coleman's charges prior to that
trial. McEachern then said in an affidavit preceding the findings of fact
he knew about Coleman's arrest before any of the arrests happened in 1999.