COURT REVERSES CONVICTION OF TULIA DRUG-STING VICTIM

Nearly four years to the day after 46 people were arrested in the
controversial 1999 Tulia drug sting, an Amarillo appeals court
reversed the convictions of one of the defendants, a move that
apparently will result in the first exoneration of a person convicted
in the sting.

The 7th Court of Appeals, in an unpublished decision handed down
Monday, reversed eight narcotics convictions against William Cash
Love, who was handed sentences totaling 341 years by a Swisher County
jury. The decision remanded Love's cases to district court for new
trials.

Love, who is still in prison and could not be reached for comment,
likely will be the first person to be cleared after serving prison
time from the bust, based on prosecutors' plans not to retry his cases.

Love's attorney, Van Williamson, said Wednesday he had not yet talked
to his client, but he said this week's decision signals the beginning
of the end to a long journey for both of them.

"I'm happy we're toward the end of this," Williamson said. "It's been
a long time. I've been representing or involved with these defendants
since probably three days after the bust. I'm just glad it's finally
coming to an end."

That journey began in the early morning hours July 23, 1999, when 46
Tulia residents, 39 of them black, were arrested after an 18-month
undercover investigation conducted by agent Tom Coleman. The arrests
led to cries of racial bias and brought national attention crashing
down on Tulia.

Other than Love's case, the cases against all the defendants who were
convicted or accepted plea bargains were upheld on direct appeal.

The state's cases started to fall apart in March, however, when
evidentiary hearings in writ of habeas corpus appeals were called off
when the judge, defense attorneys and prosecutors determined Coleman
was giving false testimony.

Last month, Judge Ron Chapman freed 12 defendants on bond and
recommended to the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals that all 37 cases
be thrown out. The matter remains before the court.

For a time, Love appeared unable to share in the benefit of Chapman's
findings, remaining in prison when the dozen others went free because
his case was on direct appeal.

That changed when the 7th Court used the same findings of fact issued
by Chapman as the basis for clearing Love, stating that evidence of
bad conduct in Coleman's background was improperly withheld from his
attorney.

Special prosecutor John Nation said he does not think Love will be
retried and he does not think the state will file motions to delay his
release. Procedures require a 45-day waiting period after a reversal,
after which the appeals court will issue a mandate to send the cases
back to district court, where they will be dismissed.

The appeals court could set bond for Love, freeing him while the
matter works its way through the courts. Williamson said he is leaning
against that option, however. He said he prefers, instead, to wait and
have his client walk out of prison a completely free man with no
conditions and no chance of being put back in prison on a
technicality.

"I will check into that as an option," Williamson said. "I'll let Cash
know about it, and I'll do whatever he asks."

The court's reversal is good news for Love, but it also could work in
favor of the other 37 people awaiting their fate before the Court of
Criminal Appeals, said Vanita Gupta, a New York lawyer who has worked
on the cases with the NAACP Legal Defense Fund.

"I think Cash's case is a very significant ruling," Gupta said. "This
is the first court that has ruled and cited the findings of fact (from
Chapman). I think that is significant and adds weight to the findings."

Amarillo lawyer Jeff Blackburn said the decision also should be of
importance to locals.

"I have gotten used to hearing that what's happened in Tulia so far is
the result of a bunch of outsiders who've come in and stirred things
up," Blackburn said. "This decision puts the lie to that idea. This
decision was made by local judges who are elected by the people of
this area, and they have now agreed that what happened in Tulia was
totally wrong."