SWISHER COUNTY SHERIFF SAYS HE ASKED OFFICER'S RECORDS TO BE SEALED

TULIA - Sheriff Larry Stewart twice asked a state agency to seal
documents relating to the law enforcement background of officer Tom
Coleman, who conducted an 18-month undercover drug operation resulting
in the arrests of 46 people, 39 of them black, in 1999.

Stewart testified during hearings Wednesday in Tulia that he asked
that Coleman's file be sealed for the officer's protection. Stewart
said he didn't want anyone to use that file to locate Coleman while he
was working undercover.

Evidentiary hearings began this week to determine if four men arrested
after the 1999 drug bust were convicted solely on the word of Coleman.

The hearings also are intended to clarify whether prosecutors failed
to turn over information from Coleman's background that could have
discredited his testimony.

The hearings include the cases of Freddie Brookins Jr., Jason
Williams, Chris Jackson, and Joe Moore, all black. The men received
sentences ranging from 20 to 90 years. Their cases were upheld on
direct appeal.

Defense attorneys indicated Wednesday that damaging and negative
information about Coleman couldn't be accessed through the state
agency's record because of Stewart's requests to seal the file.

Once the undercover operation was over, Stewart didn't advise the
agency to unseal the file, he testified.

Stewart first asked the agency to seal Coleman's law enforcement
records in 1998. He did so by writing a letter to the agency known as
TCLEOSE, the Texas Commission on Law Enforcement Officer Standards and
Education.

He again wrote the agency in February 1999 and asked that the file
remain sealed, according to testimony.

Defense attorney Mitch Zamoff, from a law firm in Washington, D.C.,
said there were more than 19 documents in Coleman's TCLEOSE file. Some
documents indicated he owed creditors and had failed to pay child
support, and others were records from previous employers.

Included in the file was a letter from the sheriff of Cochran County
where Coleman worked prior to Swisher County. The Cochran County
sheriff said in the letter that Coleman had left town without paying
many debts and that he shouldn't be in law enforcement, according to
testimony.

During the undercover operation, Coleman was arrested for theft and
official oppression in relation to the debts in Cochran County.

He paid nearly $7,000 in restitution, and charges against him were
dropped.

During his undercover work, Coleman was supervised by the sheriff's
office and an Amarillo-based narcotics task force, according to
testimony. He was supposed to have worked in other counties and made
drug cases there, too.

Stewart said Coleman worked in Swisher County one to three days a
week. However, Zamoff pointed out during Wednesday's hearings that
Coleman made 119 buys in Swisher County and only 16 outside the county.

He asked Stewart if he was concerned that 39 of the 46 defendants in
Swisher County were black.

"I don't know that I had any concern other than that would create some
comments," Stewart said.

One of Coleman's supervisors who testified Tuesday said he'd heard
Coleman refer to blacks using a racial slur. Stewart said he, too, had
heard Coleman use the word.

Stewart said he couldn't recall exact details about the situations in
which the slur was made.

Coleman, who has declined interview requests by The Avalanche-Journal,
is expected to testify today.