PERRY SHOULDN'T DELAY IN PARDONING TULIA 35

If anyone deserves a fresh start in life, it's the Tulia defendants who
were convicted -- and in many cases sent to prison -- for crimes they
didn't commit.

Gov. Rick Perry can, and should, make that happen by swiftly approving 35
pardon applications that are sitting on his desk. With a pardon, the Tulia
defendants could put their lives in order. Texas owes them the fresh start
that comes with a pardon, including a chance at jobs that otherwise are
impossible for ex-felons.

In an unusual move, the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles unanimously
recommended that 35 Tulia defendants be pardoned. It forwarded pardon
applications to the governor Tuesday. All 18 members of the hard-nosed
parole board agreed that the Tulia defendants should be pardoned. Those
recommendations are welcome, serving as a sweeping vindication for the
people, mostly African Americans, who were railroaded by a bigoted law
enforcement officer and an overzealous prosecution team.

Tom Coleman, the undercover agent who targeted Tulia's tiny black community
in his bogus 1999 drug sting, faces felony perjury charges related to the
Tulia cases. The legal system still must deal with Swisher County District
Attorney Terry McEachern, whose questionable tactics in trying dozens of
the drug felony cases appear to violate state ethics rules. He must be held
accountable by the State Bar of Texas for his role in allowing what court
documents have exposed as a fraud on Texas justice.

In those cases, 38 people, most of them African Americans, were convicted
of or pleaded guilty to drug trafficking charges. Their convictions in 1999
and 2000 were based solely on the say-so of Coleman, an officer with a
troubled law enforcement history and a strong record of racial prejudice
against African Americans. Of the 38 who were convicted, 34 are African
American, two are Hispanic and two are white.

The harshest sentences were handed out to those who refused to cower to
Coleman and McEachern and their trumped up evidence, to those who refused
to plea bargain away their liberty against a stacked deck. People such as
Joe Moore, a 60-year-old hog farmer who was sentenced to 90 years in
prison; Kareem Abdul Jabbar White, 27, who was sentenced to 60 years; his
sister Kizzie White, 26, a single mother of two who was sentenced to 25
years; Jason Jerome Williams, 24, who was sentenced to 45 years; and Cash
Love, who was sentenced to a total of 341 years.

Twelve defendants were released from prison in June after the Texas
Legislature passed a bill to grant them bail, pending the outcome of
actions by the parole board and the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals, which
is reviewing the cases on appeal. State District Judge Ron Chapman, who
oversaw new evidentiary hearings regarding the Tulia cases, recommended in
April that the appeals court overturn all 38 convictions.

Three other Tulia defendants, Mandis Barrow, Landis Barrow and Etta Kelly
were not among those reviewed by the parole board. Jurisdictional issues
and other unrelated pending convictions made their cases ineligible,
lawyers said.

With pardons, Tulia defendants can finally turn the page. They have endured
the breakup of their families, the indignities of being branded as
criminals and the hardships of prison. But pardons also will help Texas
repair a broken justice system that embarrassed the state. Tulia became a
household word across the nation because of the rank injustices done to
people because of their race and economic status.

The governor has said it will take 30 days to review each case recommended
for pardon. Justice demands he act swiftly. It demands he pardon them all.