JUDGE CALLS FOR NEW TRIALS IN TULIA CASES

TULIA - Thirty-eight people convicted of selling cocaine to an undercover
officer in 1999 moved closer toward eventual vindication Tuesday when
retired justice Ron Chapman recommended that they all receive new trials.

Chapman, a retired appeals court justice, has been presiding over
evidentiary hearings in Tulia to determine if four men convicted in the
drug cases received fair trials.

The hearings were scheduled to resume Tuesday but were halted after Chapman
declared that Tom Coleman, the controversial undercover officer who built
the cases against the drug defendants, lacked credibility as a witness.

Prosecutors agreed that all 38 defendants convicted on the word of Coleman
should receive new trials.

Should the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals accept Chapman's recommendation
and send the cases back to Tulia for new trials, the state will decline
prosecution.

"If the (appeals court) sends them back, we'll dismiss them," said Rod
Hobson, a special prosecutor assigned to assist Swisher County during
court-ordered hearings. "It would be foolish for us to go forward."

The cases stem from an 18-month undercover operation in which Coleman
worked alone, used no audio or video backup and claimed to have written
notes on his legs.

"The big message here is that it took four years to uncover what should
have been uncovered in the beginning," said Vanita Gupta, an attorney with
the NAACP's Legal Defense and Education Fund Inc.

"There was huge human cost as a result of this."

She said she was thrilled by the settlement agreement but remained
cautiously optimistic.

"I think that it is very unfortunate for this county that Tom Coleman was
employed to work here," she said. "He has wrought a lot of devastation on
families in this community."

Civil rights groups have claimed for years that Cole man, who is white,
lacked credibility. Investigations into the bust by the U.S. Department of
Justice and the Texas Attorney General's Office are ongoing.

Evidentiary hearings were intended to determine if four black men were
convicted solely on the word of Coleman. The hearings also were intended to
clarify whether prosecutors failed to turn over information from Coleman's
background that could have discredited his testimony.

Coleman's undercover work culminated in the arrests of 46 people in July
1999. Of those arrested, 39 were black.

Of the 46, seven people were convicted, 26 entered pleas and received
probation or prison terms, two pleaded guilty to misdemeanors and were fined.

Cases against 10 were dismissed. The disposition of one case hasn't been
determined.

Thirteen people remain in prison.

During testimony two weeks ago, Coleman was accused of being a
card-carrying member of the Ku Klux Klan and openly prejudice.

He also was accused of having possible mental problems, discipline
problems, a bad temper, and in need of constant supervision.

When asked about using a derogatory word to describe blacks, Coleman
testified that he and his friends used it as a greeting, and he didn't
consider it to be racist. He also testified that many of his work-related
problems while employed as an officer in other towns were due to marital
problems.

"It was the public airing of his lack of credibility that turned the tide,"
defense attorney Mitch Zamoff said Tuesday of Coleman's testimony.

He added, "Once he poisons an investigation and once you have doubts people
he arrested are guilty, it's not possible to try to maintain these
convictions."

While working undercover in Tulia, Coleman was charged with theft and abuse
of his official position in Cochran Coun ty, where he'd previously worked
as a deputy.

Among the allegations, Coleman was ac cused of stealing gas from the
county. He paid nearly $7,000 in restitution, including money he owed for
the stolen gas.

The charges were dropped.

Coleman testified the allegations he stole gas were "dreamed" up by
officials in Cochran County who didn't like him.

Swisher County District Attorney Terry McEachern was recused from the
matter Tuesday.

He prosecuted the cases and has supported Coleman's reliability and has
vouched for his character.

McEachern said Tuesday that it would be improper for him to comment after
being recused.

Special prosecutor John Nation from Dallas declined to comment specifically
as to why prosecutors settled.

"It's the just thing to do, and the specific reasons will come out," he said.

When asked if prosecutors would seek perjury or other charges against
Coleman, Nation declined comment.

Swisher County commissioners held a special meeting Tuesday to approve a
settlement with the defendants. They did not specify the nature of the
settlement.

The county said in a news release that it "approved an agreement" with the
defendants to protect its residents from the "potential economic havoc and
continued negative attention" that multiple civil lawsuits would produce.

Defense attorney Jeff Blackburn said the commissioners agreed to pay
$250,000 as a settlement.

"The decision today was not about the guilt or innocence of any of the
defendants," the county's new release said. "It was about protecting the
taxpayers of this county and bringing closure to a situation that has
disrupted and occupied our citizens for 31/2 years."

The $250,000 approved Tues day is only a portion of the cost of these cases
shouldered by Swisher County taxpayers.

The county increased property taxes by 5.8 percent in October 1999 to pay
for the trials, legal fees and other expenses related to the bust.

Sheriff Larry Stewart, who hired Coleman in conjunction with the Panhandle
Regional Narcotics Trafficking Task Force in Amarillo, declined an interview.

Stewart has stood behind Coleman and the cases he built.

He said in a prepared statement that Tuesday's events "help bring to an end
the controversy that has affected this community for the last several years."

He said the agreements reached were "not about guilt or innocence, but is
intended to end the controversy that has surrounded these cases."

Four of Mattie White's children were accused of selling cocaine to Coleman
during his undercover work.

A daughter proved she was living in Oklahoma at the time and her case was
dismissed. Three others, however, were sent to prison.

White said Tuesday that she remained confident Coleman's credibility would
be shattered.

"I have a lot of faith in God, and he never lets me down," White said.

She's confident her children will soon be coming home.

"I don't know how they can hold them when they've got nothing to hold them
on," she said.

It likely will be several months before the Court of Criminal Appeals makes
its decision on Chapman's recommendation, Blackburn said.

"What we got done today was an achievement I've dreamed about for three
years," Blackburn said. "We applaud the action of Swisher County in
stepping up. It's way too late in the game, but at least they did it."

Meanwhile, the defendants have new hope, he said.

"If the Court of Criminal Appeals does what we expect them to do, pray they
will do, they will all come out."