PARTWAY TO FREEDOM

AMARILLO, Tex. At least 12 of the people who were sent to prison on
the word of a lying, reckless, bigoted lawman in Tulia, Tex., will
step into the sweet light and fresh air of freedom this afternoon. But
they have not yet been exonerated.

District Judge Ron Chapman, who has thoroughly investigated the case
and recommended that all convictions be thrown out, will authorize the
release of the prisoners at a special bail hearing in Tulia today.
Because of jurisdictional reasons, three others who are still in
prison will not be part of today's proceedings. A decision on whether
to release one other prisoner today had not been reached by last night.

Every branch of the Texas state government has now acknowledged, in
one form or another, that the Tulia defendants were railroaded. Two
weeks ago, in an extraordinary ceremony for a state that likes to view
itself as beyond tough on crime, Gov. Rick Perry signed a bill that
permitted Judge Chapman to grant bail to those who were still behind
bars.

The 16 people still imprisoned were among 46 Tulia residents arrested
on felony drug charges four years ago after an absurd "deep
undercover" investigation by a clownish officer named Tom Coleman. The
men and women targeted by Mr. Coleman were characterized as major drug
traffickers. But no drugs, guns or money were recovered when they were
rounded up, publicly humiliated and paraded before the news media,
which had been alerted in advance.

The subsequent trials were outrageous pro forma proceedings in which
convictions were a foregone conclusion. After the first few trials
resulted in grotesque sentences - in some cases, 90 years or more -
the remaining defendants began lining up to plead guilty in return for
lesser punishment. A total of 38 defendants either were convicted or
pleaded guilty.

Mr. Coleman's activities in Tulia have since been completely
discredited, and he's been indicted for perjury. Prosecutors threw in
the towel in April. They said they had made a terrible mistake in
relying on Mr. Coleman's uncorroborated testimony, and they agreed
that all convictions, including those of individuals who had pleaded
guilty, should be overturned.

But justice is always elusive in Texas, so that was not the end of the
story. Judge Chapman's formal recommendation that the convictions be
overturned has to be approved by the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals,
which has not yet acted. And no one knows when it will act or what it
will do. Meanwhile, the convictions stand.

The prospect of the Tulia defendants sitting in prison for months
while awaiting a decision from the Court of Criminal Appeals led the
State Legislature to pass the bill that made the granting of bail possible.

State Senator John Whitmire, chairman of the Criminal Justice
Committee, said, "It is clear to me that the only reasonable
alternative at this point is to release these individuals."

An unfavorable ruling by the Court of Criminal Appeals could result in
the defendants' being sent back to prison. But there is another
potential route to exoneration. Governor Perry has asked the Texas
Board of Pardons and Paroles to review the Tulia convictions to
determine if some form of clemency is in order. In a letter to the
board's chairman, Gerald Garrett, Governor Perry wrote:

"I urge you to begin an expeditious investigation into each of these
cases and recommend whether a pardon, commutation of sentence or other
clemency action is appropriate and just."

He added: "A recent review by the trial court concluded that the key
witness, an undercover agent, was not credible."

Among the prisoners to be released today is Joe Moore, a pig farmer,
now in his 60's, who was sentenced to 90 years. I remember standing
outside his vacant and absolute ruin of a house, his shack, and
thinking, "This has to be the most poverty-stricken drug kingpin ever."

Mr. Moore nearly died from illness while in prison.

Elaine Jones, president of the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational
Fund, which represents several of the people still in prison, told me
yesterday: "I can't get into a celebratory mood yet. This is progress,
but the convictions have not been overturned and our clients will
still be under the jurisdiction of the state, even after they're
released. I don't want anybody to lose sight of that."