TULIA DEFENDANTS STILL WAITING FOR JUSTICE

For the Tulia 46, justice has been elusive as well as blind.

Even today, nearly a week after prosecutors admit they made a huge mistake
in relying solely on the uncorroborated testimony of an unreliable
undercover officer, many remain in prison.

Those convicted on the tainted testimony are still incarcerated despite the
extraordinary declaration by retired state District Judge Ron Chapman last
week that "Tom Coleman (the undercover law enforcement officer) is simply
not a credible witness . . ."

The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals said its hands are legally tied in
establishing bail for wrongfully convicted Tulia folks. The court
apparently must await formal recommendations from Chapman, who presided
over new hearings in the case last month, before taking action.

Maybe so, but the state that didn't waste time indicting and trying the
defendants should move quickly to rectify this insult to justice. The Tulia
defendants should be freed as quickly as possible. There is widespread
agreement that they shouldn't have spent one day in jail -- much less years
- -- and every day they stay in jail adds to the insult and pain they've endured.

Moreover, Coleman should be held accountable for his perfidy and his role
in assaulting the lives and characters of the defendants his lies ensnared.
Coleman's manufactured testimony sent 38 Tulia residents -- nearly all of
them black -- to prison for drug trafficking charges. A grand jury
investigation into the conduct of Coleman's activities is certainly
appropriate, as is prosecution for any criminal conduct that may have occurred.

There is no shortage of blame for this train wreck of a case. Begin with
Swisher County Sheriff Larry Stewart, who hired Coleman to work undercover
in Tulia. The idea that a Panhandle hamlet of 5,000 harbors major illicit
drug activity is amusing. If that's the belief, however, you'd think the
sheriff would look for someone who had not been forced out of two law
enforcement agencies and rejected by others.

During the 18-month sting operation, Stewart had to arrest Coleman on
charges of theft and abuse of authority filed in another county. Incredibly
enough, Coleman continued to work undercover with Stewart's apparent blessing.

Then there is the original prosecutor, Terry McEachern. He mounted a
zealous prosecution despite a lack of evidence. No drugs, weapons or large
sums of cash were found on defendants. No fingerprints were uncovered on
drugs Coleman claimed he bought from them. Coleman did not tape-record drug
buys. Though he said he bought drugs in public places, no witnesses
corroborated the drug buys.

Then there is the question of whether McEachern concealed Coleman's spotty
law enforcement record from defense lawyers. The State Bar of Texas or
Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott should look into the prosecutor's
conduct. And if the state fails to act, federal authorities certainly
should investigate whether the civil rights of the Tulia defendants were
violated.

The Tulia case also raises questions of fairness about a jury system that
strives to seat all-white juries in cases involving black defendants. It
appears that in this case, jury after jury was willing to convict solely on
the say-so of shaky testimony of a white officer, raising obvious questions
of racial bias.

Questions go higher. In 1999, then-Attorney General John Cornyn awarded
Coleman the Texas Lawman of Year award for his sting operation in Tulia. As
Coleman's evidence cracked, then crumbled, under scrutiny from civil rights
organizations and the media, Cornyn, running for the U.S. Senate, opened an
investigation into Tulia. That investigation, still open under Abbott, has
gone nowhere.

Freedom for Tulia defendants now rides on the Court of Criminal Appeals.
The path to restoring the shattered credibility of the Texas criminal
justice system starts with opening the cells that still hold the Tulia
defendants.