ONE BAD AGENT, ONE FAILED SYSTEM OF JUSTICE IN TULIA

1999: Tom Coleman, Texas Lawman of the Year.

2003: Tom Coleman, liar.

The latter is the finding of a Swisher County grand jury that indicted
Coleman last week on three felony perjury charges accusing him of lying on
the witness stand in March.

Coleman was the lone undercover agent in the 1999 drug busts that resulted
in the arrests of nearly a tenth of Tulia's small African American
population. His uncorroborated testimony convicted 38 people, sending more
than two dozen to prison for terms ranging from 20 years to 90 years.

Thirteen defendants are languishing in prison despite a judge's
recommendation this month to the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals that
convictions of the Tulia 38 be thrown out.

The indictments are another indication that justice in Tulia certainly was
deaf and dumb, but hardly blind. White jury after white jury convicted
black residents solely on the say-so of Coleman, who is white. It's
heartening to see a grand jury finally deal with a rogue cop whose apparent
lies stole years of people's lives. But it shouldn't end with Coleman, a
small fish. A grand jury should now focus on the bigger members of that
school -- the prosecutors, sheriff and others -- who robbed defendants of
their right to a fair trial by suppressing evidence about Coleman's tainted
law enforcement record.

Last month, special prosecutor Rod Hobson squared off against several
lawyers working pro bono in new hearings ordered by the state court of
criminal appeals. The court had ordered the hearings to determine whether
four Tulia defendants were convicted solely on Coleman's word and whether
the state failed to turn over information about Coleman that that may have
cast doubt about his credibility.

Coleman, ponytailed and clad in a black leather jacket, was evasive in new
hearings, a striking contrast to the cocky law officer who testified
against defendants years earlier.

Back then, his recall was so good, he didn't need paper and pencil to
record drug stings. He didn't use tape recorders or bother with video.
Though the supposed drug buys were made in public places, Coleman had no
witnesses. Fingerprints? Corroborating evidence? Didn't need those, either.

Believing Coleman was a stretch, but one jurors made easily. It meant that
46 Tulia residents were trafficking powder cocaine in this Panhandle
backwater town of 5,000. Coleman fingered Joe Moore as the "drug king pin."
At 57, Moore looked more like the hog farmer he was than drug lord. Moore,
who suffers from severe diabetes, was sentenced to 90 years in prison. It
gets more unbelievable. Coleman kept track of all those drug buys by
scribbling them on his leg. Don't ask what happened when he showered. A
jury didn't.

But Coleman's crack memory failed him a number of times last month under
the dogged examination of Mitch Zamoff, a former U.S. assistant attorney in
Philadelphia. Zamoff is a member of the legal team that represented Tulia
defendants.

"It's an interesting turn of events," said Zamoff, a partner in Washington
D.C.-based firm Hogan & Hartson. "The people of Swisher County will have
the opportunity to sit in judgment of him. We hope that justice is done."

According to the indictment, Coleman testified he learned he was facing
theft charges in August 1998 when Swisher County Sheriff Larry Stewart told
him there was a warrant for his arrest. But other testimony he gave and
evidence indicated Coleman knew months earlier -- in May 1998 -- about the
theft charge. Before working undercover in Swisher County, Coleman had been
a deputy in Cochran County. That county had issued a warrant for his arrest
in the summer of 1998 for stealing county-owned gasoline two years before.
Charges were dismissed after Coleman made restitution.

The indictment also stated that Coleman lied about whether he told the
Texas Commission on Law Enforcement Officer Standards and Education, as
required, that he had been arrested. No doubt Swisher County would love to
end the Tulia tragedy with Coleman. He's an easy target and provides a
convenient exit strategy for Swisher County and for the office of Texas
Attorney General Greg Abbott and the U.S. Department of Justice, both of
which are investigating the case.

But making this case about one bad cop is way too simple. The Tulia story
is really about the failure of an entire system.