OFFICER'S CREDIBILITY ATTACKED IN TULIA CASE

TULIA - Tom Coleman, the controversial undercover officer who made drug
cases against 46 people here in 1999, testified Friday he wasn't prejudiced
and considered it an acceptable greeting to use a derogatory word to
describe blacks. When asked if the word was a term of racial prejudice,
Coleman said, "It might not be OK."

Coleman's former wife said in a sworn statement that Coleman was a
card-carrying member of the Ku Klux Klan. She said Coleman was "openly
prejudiced" against blacks and Hispanics.

Coleman said Friday he is not prejudiced.

His credibility has come under attack by civil rights groups.

During his undercover operation, Coleman worked alone and with no audio or
video surveillance. People became suspicious when 39 of those arrested were
black.

Many of the suspects were sentenced to long prison terms for selling
cocaine to Coleman. Some took plea agreements for lesser sentences and at
least four cases were thrown out.

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 are black. They received sentences ranging
from 20 to 90 years. Their cases were upheld on direct appeal.

Friday's proceedings, which had been scheduled to continue throughout the
day, were abruptly recessed after lunch. Attorneys would not say why.

The hearings are expected to resume April 1.

Vanita Gupta, a representative of the National Association for the
Advancement of Colored People's legal defense fund, appeared agitated
Friday after Coleman repeatedly contradicted himself on the stand.

"We've been able to expose the active misrepresentation that the state
engaged in (during) each of the trials," Gupta said.

She said it was wrong for prosecutors to support Coleman as a credible
witness when they knew he had problems in his background.

"This was a fraud against the court," she said.

Coleman's statement that using the derogatory word for blacks didn't
express prejudice is "enough to put into question the system of justice in
Swisher County," Gupta said.

Jeff Blackburn, a defense attorney from Amarillo, said the original
prosecutors in the Tulia cases painted a false picture of Coleman as an
exceptional officer.

"The whole picture they created was fake," Blackburn said.

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

Coleman was accused of stealing gas from the county, among other
allegations he faced.

He paid nearly $7,000 in restitution, including money he owed for the
stolen gas, and the charges were dropped.

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

Further shattering his credibility this week, witnesses testified that
Coleman was described by some law enforcement officers he'd worked with as
a gun freak with possible mental problems.

He also was described as having a bad temper and discipline problems.