End of a Travesty

The governor of Texas is preparing to sign a bill that would free the so-called "Tulia 14." The town of Tulia made national headlines in the wake of a 1999 "drug bust" carried out by truth-challenged cop Tom Coleman. Coleman had apparently decided that all black people are drug dealers, arresting almost half of the town's adult African American population in one fell swoop. Despite the surprising absence of drugs, cash, or firearms turned up in the busts, mostly-white juries sent 19 people to state prisons, 14 of whom remain… for another two weeks.

Comments

[Jim Walsh]

Often, we hear the flip response of mental midgets to civil libertarians' concerns about assorted police inappropriacies: "Well, if you're not a *criminal,* you have nothing to worry about." What do you suppose Tom Coleman's defenders (and I'm sure they're out there) would say?

But hey...I'm caucasian, so what, me worry...

[Warren]

Why did the Gov. need to sign a bill? Isn't the fact that the only evidence against you was perjured testimony enough to get a conviction overturned?

[Grant Gould]

Warren --
My undestanding is that the law as it stands says that you stay in prison while your conviction is reconsidered. The bill in question would allow these 14 to be paroled while the reconsideration makes its way through the courts.

The outcome isn't in doubt, but the wheels grind slowly.
--G

[John]

Check out the later part of that story.

This fiasco was funded with federal money.

The federal government can't find Osama, but they sure can find some poor black people to throw in jail.

[s.m. koppelman]

My question is why the governor waited for a bill from the legistalture. Can he not pardon them? Is he so afraid that one of them might commit a crime at some point and blemish his all-important career that he'll keep 14 people in jail for weeks or months longer than necessary to cover his ass? Is the governor of Texas not allowed to pardon people imprisoned for these sorts of charges?

[dhex]

"This fiasco was funded with federal money."

if i had a dollar for every time i thought that, i'd have the budget of a small, redundant government agency. 🙂

i think it'll look nice on a t-shirt.

[Jim N]

s.m., I seem to remember Bush saying in his appearance on Letterman during the campaign that the governor does not have the right to pardon criminals in Texas.