BOARD RECOMMENDS PARDONS IN TEXAS DRUG STING

DALLAS (Reuters) - The Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles has recommended
the pardon of 35 people convicted in a racially-tinged drug sting launched
by an undercover agent indicted for perjury, the board chief said on
Wednesday.

Chairman Gerald Garrett said the recommendation to pardon 35 people
convicted in a 1999 drug sting in the Texas Panhandle town of Tulia has been
given to Gov. Rick Perry, who has the ultimate authority to grant the
pardons.

"There were questions about the arrest tactics and the resulting plea
bargains and convictions," Garrett said.

Lawman Tom Coleman was the lone investigator in a sting that led to the
arrests of 46 people, almost all black, for involvement in an alleged drug
ring in the northern Texas town of about 5,000 people. Those arrested
represented about 10 percent of Tulia's black community.

No drugs or large sums of money were found in the sting but 38 of those
arrested were convicted. The other eight were not prosecuted.

Coleman faces a hearing on perjury charges in September. Earlier this year
at a finding-of-fact hearing, a district judge said Coleman was "not a
credible witness" and asked the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals to overturn
all the convictions.

With the recommendation from the parole board, there are now two paths that
could clear those convicted in the sting. The first path is through the top
Texas appeals court and the second is through an executive decision from
Perry.

The parole board only reviewed 35 of the 38 convictions. Three people had
convictions on charges that the board decided it could not review.

Garrett said the board spent several months reviewing the cases, after
receiving a request from Perry in May. The sting took place when President
Bush was Texas governor, and his successor Perry has said he has "grave
concerns about the potential miscarriage of justice" in the Tulia sting.

Vanita Gupta, a lawyer with the NAACP Legal Defense Fund who has been
fighting to overturn the convictions, hailed the decision, urging Perry to
grant the pardons quickly.

Most of the 38 have already finished their jail terms or were released on
parole. Last month, 13 people were ordered released from jail on bond
pending the decision of the Court of Criminal Appeals.