UNTANGLING THE TALE OF TULIA'S INCARCERATED

Regular readers of this page justifiably wondered why the inmates who
had been called the Tulia 13 became the Tulia 14 in Tuesday's
editions. There is an explanation, but it is one as tortured as the
process that started with a tainted undercover drug operation that led
to the convictions of 38 residents of the tiny Panhandle community.

Gov. Rick Perry signed a bill Monday that would allow release on bail
of 14 people convicted on the testimony of Tom Coleman, the undercover
officer who spearheaded the tainted investigation. Vanita Gupta of the
NAACP Legal Defense Fund actually counts 16 people as incarcerated on
Coleman's testimony.

Two of those, however, were on probation on previous Potter County
drug convictions when they were rounded up in the Tulia drug busts.
Their arrests, based on Coleman's bogus undercover work, triggered
revocations of their previous convictions. Once their probation was
revoked and they were ordered imprisoned on Potter County convictions,
the Tulia charges were dropped. They will not get relief promised by
the bill that Perry signed Monday, Gupta said.

Another three were out on probation after entering guilty pleas on the
Tulia drug charges and have since had their probations revoked for a
variety of reasons. They, however, are covered by the bill, bringing
the number of Tulia defendants eligible for release under the bill to
14.

Those 14 are scheduled for a hearing later this month in Tulia that
will end in their imprisonment. They may be released, but they still
won't be free until their convictions are overturned or they are pardoned.

Texas legislative, executive and judicial officials should bear in
mind that the bill was a welcome step, but exoneration of the
defendants is the ultimate destination.