JUDGE NIXES CHARGES AGAINST AGENT

Report's Allegations Won't Be Admitted Into Ex-Tulia Officer's Trials

New allegations about improprieties in the background of undercover officer
Tom Coleman emerged Wednesday, but they will not be admitted in upcoming
drug trials because of a judge's order.

The allegations, which are contained in a report released Wednesday to the
Globe-News by the Texas Commission on Law Enforcement Officer Standards and
Education (TCLEOSE), center around Coleman's firing in April from the
Southeast Metroplex Narcotics Task Force in Waxahachie.

A report filed by the Ellis County District Attorney's office with TCLEOSE,
the licensing agency for law enforcement in Texas, states that Coleman was
terminated because he allegedly made inappropriate sexual contact with an
informant and aided the informant in making a misleading statement to
receive auto insurance. The report states that the informant passed a
polygraph and Coleman refused to take one.

Attorneys for defendants Tonya White and Zury Bossett attempted to secure
Coleman's work history from Ellis County for admission in their upcoming
drug trials, but 242nd District Judge Ed Self agreed to a motion from Ellis
County to keep the information confidential, court records show.

Self decided not to admit the records because they are confidential and
have no bearing on the cases, he said.

"Nothing in these documents has anything at all to do with this case," Self
said. "They do not affect the credibility of the witness in any way."

Coleman is one of the central figures in the controversy in Tulia. He
worked undercover in the town for 1 years before 46 arrests on drug charges
were made on the basis of his investigation.

"Controversy arose over the racial makeup of the defendants - 39 of the 46
were black - leading to a U.S. Department of Justice investigation and
civil lawsuits.

Coleman took exception to the information contained in the report, chalking
it up to a conflict with the task force. Coleman alleged that officers from
the task force engaged in inappropriate or illegal activities, and, when
Coleman wouldn't join in, they tried to get rid of him.

Coleman denied the allegations of the confidential informant as well,
saying his field supervisor directed him to help her get insurance so she
could have a car and operate as an informant. Coleman said Ellis County
officials gave him a chance to resign, but he refused because he was innocent.

"If I'd have resigned, I'd have been saying that I was guilty," Coleman
said. "I will own up to everything that I done, but I ain't going to own up
to anything I didn't do."

The head of the task force, Capt. John Goss, denied Coleman's claims about
the activities of his officers.

"His allegations were all looked into by an investigation by the district
attorney's office and found to be unfounded," Goss said.

Defense attorney Jeff Blackburn said he respected Self's opinion but
thought that the documents show a pattern in Coleman's behavior and should
be considered by a jury.

"It shows that once again, Mr. Coleman has put himself back into the
position he was in before Tulia," Blackburn said. "He flamed out from Ellis
County just like he did from Cochran County before he came to Tulia. That
pattern shows his motivation for testifying against my clients, to make a
big splash and get back in the good graces of law enforcement."

District Attorney Terry McEachern, who will prosecute the two drug cases,
said he supported Self's decision, pointing out that an attorney can make
nearly any witness look untrustworthy if he is allowed to dig deep enough
into the witness' background.

"If you went back to anybody's high school days, I'll bet you somewhere in
those principal's records there's something they don't want people to
know," McEachern said. "When you start going on a fishing expedition, how
far back do you go? 20 years? 30 years? You have to draw the line somewhere."