FINAL TULIA DRUG CASE DEFENDANT WINS DISMISSAL

Zuri Bossett, the final defendant in a controversial 1999 drug bust in
Tulia, could breathe a sigh of relief Tuesday after drug charges
against her were formally dismissed.

Her attorney called the case another example of deceitful police work
by a former undercover agent whose testimony led to charges against 43
people, 37 of whom are black. Of the other six, three are Hispanic and
three are white.

Bossett, 23, of Amarillo had been accused of selling cocaine to
undercover officer Tom Coleman three years ago.

Bossett said Tuesday that she never sold drugs to Coleman, nor did she
know what he looked like at the time. She had faced a sentence of two
to 20 years in prison.

Coleman claimed that he bought cocaine from Bossett at her sister's
apartment in Tulia.

Bossett said she wasn't there.

"I was getting ready to go to college at Clarendon College," she said.
"It was like two days before I moved in the dorm." Bossett, who is
7-months pregnant and a mother of an infant son, said her dismissal is
a relief.

"I'm just glad it's all over with," she said.

The controversial Tulia drug busts have received national media
attention, and Coleman's credibility has come under scrutiny. The
Department of Justice continues to investigate the matter.

Cases against at least two other defendants also have been
dismissed.

In April, Tonya White proved she was in Oklahoma at the time she
supposedly sold drugs to Coleman in Tulia. Bank records showed that
White had made a deposit at her bank in Oklahoma the same day that
Coleman said she sold drugs to him in Tulia.

The Avalanche-Journal left a message for Coleman at his home in
Waxahachie but was unable to contact him Tuesday. Swisher County
District Attorney, Terry McEachern, who would have prosecuted Bossett
at a trial scheduled for Tuesday, said he weighed several factors
before agreeing to dismiss the case.

"We took into consideration several circumstances -- her age, how big
a player the state thought she was. We didn't feel like she was a
major dealer or anything else like that, and we did what we thought
was right," he said.

Bossett's attorney, Jeff Blackburn of Amarillo, said the case was
dismissed because it lacked evidence.

"I'm really glad he dismissed it. However, I honestly don't feel that
he had any choice," Blackburn said. "Certainly after Tonya

White's case in which we were able to reveal that Tom Coleman is not
just a liar in general, but a liar in these accusations and clearly
making them up out of thin air, prospects of a jury trial were pretty
grim for Mr. McEachern."

Blackburn, who is working on several of the Tulia cases with a group
of attorneys for free, said he intends to help free the remaining 14
prisoners. Everyone accused deserves a new trial, he said.

"This thing is growing. It's becoming a bigger national issue than
ever before," Blackburn said. "It's not going to end until those
people get released from prison and everybody that was involved gets a
new trial."