13 JAILED ON WORD OF DISCREDITED AGENT TO BE FREED

TULIA, Texas - Thirteen people imprisoned on the testimony of a discredited
undercover officer were to be released Monday, nearly four years after they
and dozens of other residents - most of them black - were arrested on drug
charges.

"I'm so happy for them," said Billy Wafer, one of the 46 arrested in the
1999 sweep that capped an 18-month undercover operation. "It's been a long
time coming but it's finally here."

Wafer wasn't charged; he had an alibi and his case was dismissed.

But 38 others were convicted on the uncorroborated word of undercover drug
agent Tom Coleman - now under indictment on perjury charges - or they
accepted plea agreements out of fear of lengthy prison terms.

Civil rights advocates have called the arrests racially motivated. Of the
46 arrested in the small Panhandle town, 39 were black. Coleman is white.

Coleman claimed he bought drugs from the defendants, but he worked alone
and used no audio or video surveillance. No drugs were ever found during
the arrests, and little or no corroborating evidence was introduced in court.

On Monday, 12 blacks and one Hispanic were to appear before State District
Judge Ron Chapman, who was expected to free them on personal recognizance
bonds while their cases are on appeal. Gov. Rick Perry signed a bill June 2
allowing for the releases; it could take as long two years for the Texas
Court of Criminal Appeals to rule on their cases.

Chapman previously presided over hearings for four of the defendants and
said Coleman was "simply not a credible witness under oath."

The judge recommended that the 38 convictions be overturned and new trials
ordered, but a special prosecutor has said there will be no new trials.

Coleman, a contract agent for the Panhandle Regional Drug Task Force, was
indicted in April on three charges of aggravated perjury stemming from his
testimony during the hearings Chapman oversaw. The district attorney who
prosecuted many of the cases, Terry McEachern, has denied wrongdoing.

A 14th defendant who was included in the governor's bill is not eligible
for bail because his case is still pending on direct appeal, said Vanita
Gupta, assistant counsel with the NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund.

Gupta, one of many attorneys involved in the cases, said she was "overjoyed
and relieved" that the defendants who were "ripped from their families"
finally will be free.

"It is incredible that all three branches of the Texas government have
recognized the need for action to rectify the injustice that took place in
Tulia," Gupta said. "But until these individuals receive full and complete
relief, whether through a pardon or an overturning of their convictions,
this matter is not resolved."

Mattie White is the mother of two of those being released: Kareem White,
27, sentenced to 60 years in prison, and her 26-year-old daughter, Kizzie,
sentenced to 25 years. A third child, Donnie White, was paroled in January
2002.

"I thought, 'It's not going to ever happen,'" Mattie White said. "I would
go off and cry to myself. But with (my children's) prayers and everybody
else's, I just caught on to it and started believing they would (get out)."