PERRY ADVISED TO PARDON 35 IN TULIA DRUG SWEEP

The Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles has told Gov. Rick Perry that he
should pardon 35 people who were convicted on the word of a now-discredited
undercover agent in the 1999 Tulia drug busts.

Board Chairman Gerald Garrett said all 18 members of the board recommended
a pardon in each case.

It will take Perry's staff about one month to review all of the cases and
advise the governor on whether the pardons should be issued, Perry
spokesman Gene Acuna said.

"We are expediting the process; however, with that number of cases, we do
anticipate it will take about a month," Acuna said. "The review is for each
individual case, and that is standard procedure for every recommendation
that comes from the board."

Most of those arrested during the drug sweep are now free, waiting to see
if they will be pardoned, or if the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals will
throw out their convictions.

Perry had asked the board on May 13 to review the convictions obtained
almost entirely on the testimony of undercover narcotics agent Tom Coleman.
Coleman now faces perjury charges.

Garrett said the board spent two months gathering information before
issuing its recommendations Tuesday afternoon.

Forty-six people -- 39 of whom are black -- were arrested in the busts that
brought national attention to the small Panhandle community of Tulia.

Thirty-eight of the cases were prosecuted, three of which were not part of
the board's review.

One of those was the case of Cash Love, whose drug convictions were
reversed this month by the 7th Court of Criminal Appeals. Two other cases
involved defendants who were convicted on other charges.

District Judge Ron Chapman has recommended the Court of Criminal Appeals
overturn the convictions of those prosecuted in the drug sting conducted by
Coleman and order new trials. A special prosecutor appointed to handle the
cases has said there will be no new trials.

Coleman has a pretrial hearing on his perjury cases set for Sept. 25.

Compiled from wire reports