TULIA DRUG AGENT QUESTIONED

TULIA - Tom Coleman, the lone undercover agent in the controversial 1999
drug sting operation in Tulia, stood by his actions Thursday in an
evidentiary hearing ordered by the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals.

"My cases are not questionable," he said. "I stand by what I did."

A short time later, though, Coleman testified that there were discrepancies
in other cases in which he made drug buys, including one woman whose case
was tossed out because she proved she was in Oklahoma at the time Coleman
said he bought drugs from her.

"There are some mess-ups in four cases," Coleman testified in the
evidentiary hearing.

Coleman had a simple one-word "Yes," for defense attorney Mitchell Zamoff
when Zamoff asked him, "Really, but for your word, there's no evidence in
any of these cases that these buys took place."

The convictions of four men, whose sentences were as long as 90 years, were
upheld on direct appeal. However, the appeals court asked the trial court
for clarification on whether Jason Jerome Williams, Christopher Eugene
Jackson, Freddie Brookins Jr. and Joe Moore were convicted solely on
Coleman's word. The court also wants to know whether the state failed to
turn over information from Coleman's background that may have impeached his
testimony.

It was Coleman's uncorroborated testimony that led to prison sentences for
many of the 46 people arrested - 39 of whom were black - in the July 1999
busts, which civil rights groups have claimed were racially motivated.

Coleman worked alone during an 18-month undercover operation in Swisher
County and used no audio or video surveillance, often writing notes on his
leg about drug buys he'd made.

Coleman will return to testify Friday at the Swisher County Courthouse in
Tulia.

Jeff Blackburn, an Amarillo attorney representing two of the four men
involved in the hearings, said Coleman is an elusive witness.

"I think the problem many attorneys encountered with [Coleman] in the past
is they don't stay on him," Blackburn said. "We're going to keep asking
questions until we get good answers."

Swisher County District Attor-ney Terry McEachern, who prosecuted nearly
all of the drug cases, said he was pleased with the way the proceedings are
going. He declined to comment further.

Earlier Thursday, Swisher County Sheriff Larry Stewart testified that
Coleman's reaction was "surprise and disbelief" in August 1998 when Stewart
approached him with an arrest warrant for theft and abuse of official
capacity out of Cochran County.

Coleman, who is no longer in law enforcement, was charged during the
18-month undercover operation. Coleman paid restitution, and the criminal
charges against him were dropped.

Defense attorneys claimed Coleman knew about the pending charges in May
1998 because of a waiver of arraignment form he signed in Cochran County
with his attorney on May 30, 1998.