cannabisnews.com: The Latest From Tulia The Latest From Tulia Posted by CN Staff on December 26, 2002 at 13:56:39 PT By Bob Herbert Source: New York Times Some tentative, very preliminary steps are being taken to address one of the great miscarriages of justice in the country — the roundup and prosecution of dozens of black men and women on specious drug trafficking charges in the Texas Panhandle town of Tulia.There is no reason to believe that any of the people arrested in the humiliating roundup on July 23, 1999, were guilty of trafficking. No drugs, money or weapons were found. Several defendants have already been proved innocent. All were arrested solely on the word of a clownish undercover cop named Tom Coleman who had a penchant for making up charges, throwing his "evidence" into the garbage, scrawling important investigative information on his arms and legs, changing his testimony from trial to trial, making false statements while under oath, referring to black people as "niggers," and stumbling into legal trouble himself.On the uncorroborated, unsubstantiated testimony of this officer, defendants arrested in Tulia on that shameful summer day were convicted and given prison sentences of 20 years, 60 years, 90 years and more. When the first astonishingly harsh sentences were handed down, the remaining defendants quickly began agreeing to plead guilty in return for more lenient punishment. Thirteen defendants remain in prison, serving sentences of up to 99 years.In the bleak and twisted world of criminal justice in Texas, this case was considered cause for celebration. Mr. Coleman was hailed as a hero and given the state's "Lawman of the Year" award.Local officials had every reason to believe that no one would pay attention to the terrible doings in Tulia. But the media spotlight has remained on the fiasco and the case has become a Texas-sized embarrassment. The offices of the U.S. attorney general, John Ashcroft, and the Texas attorney general, John Cornyn, have said they are investigating. But the investigations have been extremely quiet and so far no developments have been reported.There has been a significant development in the courts, however. The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals, responding to petitions filed by a local attorney, Jeff Blackburn, and lawyers from the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, has sent a number of the cases back to the trial court for additional fact-finding.Among other things, the appeals court wants to know if there was evidence available to impeach Mr. Coleman's testimony, and if there had been any knowledge by the prosecution of such evidence.Ordinarily the original trial judge would handle the response to the request by the appeals court. But District Judge Ed Self, who presided over most of the Tulia trials, recused himself after defense lawyers called his impartiality into question. The judge, who had leaned heavily in favor of the prosecution during the trials, defended his rulings in a letter to the editor of a local newspaper last month. He was also quoted as saying that local residents were "tired of all the talk about the drug bust."A new judge from an entirely different judicial district — Judge Ron Chapman of Dallas — has been assigned to the case. This is a very hopeful sign. The criminal justice crowd in and around Tulia worked as a team to perpetrate this outrage. And these good ol' officials have shown no inclination to blow the whistle on their own bad behavior. A pair of fresh and impartial eyes is in order.Meanwhile, the district attorney who prosecuted most of the Tulia cases, Terry McEachern, has a problem of his own to deal with. He was arrested in New Mexico the day before Thanksgiving on a misdemeanor charge of driving while intoxicated. Police said he was pulled over after his Jeep Cherokee was spotted weaving from lane to lane. He reportedly said he had consumed some alcohol and also the prescription drug Valium. But he said he was not drunk. He refused to take a blood alcohol test.John Cornyn, the state attorney general whose office is supposed to be investigating the Tulia arrests, had a much better November. Mr. Cornyn, who actually presented Tom Coleman with his Texas "Lawman of the Year" award, was elected to the United States Senate. He will take his seat as part of the Republican majority in January. Newshawk: p4meSource: New York Times (NY)Author: Bob HerbertPublished: December 26, 2002Copyright: 2002 The New York Times Company Contact: letters nytimes.com Website: http://www.nytimes.com/ Related Articles:The Other War - The Nationhttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread15045.shtmlTulia's Shattered Lives http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread13641.shtmlThe Terror War on Drugs - LA Weeklyhttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread14967.shtml Home Comment Email Register Recent Comments Help Comment #4 posted by p4me on December 26, 2002 at 21:47:45 PT Richard Cowan on the big story of 2002 Richard Cowan wrote a fitting piece for the holidays that follows a Christian theme. RC wrote the foward to Chris Bennett's book that is titled " Sex, Drugs, and Violence In the Bible. RC talks about the annoiting oil of Christ and those that support cannabis prohibition are the anti-Christ. It was in Monday's commentary that included the following paragraph that is relevant to the big stories of 2002- http://www.marijuananews.com/news.php3?sid=610Happily, the silence of the clergy may finally be coming to an end, and that may be the most important and underreported development in 2002. A few days ago, I received a report on a conference of Religious Leaders who are organizing to oppose the Drug War. 1 [ Post Comment ] Comment #3 posted by FoM on December 26, 2002 at 20:40:27 PT p4me You're right. I was only thinking of news in the U.S. The Report from Canada was the most progressive of all the news. [ Post Comment ] Comment #2 posted by p4me on December 26, 2002 at 20:17:20 PT The story of the year I saw where FoM asked what people thought were the big stories of the year. I do think the WAMM raid was about as big as you could get in the US with the statements of Congressman Dan Burton being about as big a deal. The biggest event in my opinion is the release of the Canadian Senate's Select Committee Report being the best thing to happen for the cause of legalization. Of course in the UK it is the backpeddling of Blunkett and the mess he has created that is the big deal. When he just raised the penaltly of class C dealing to 14 years and at the same time not eliminating the possibility of being arrested for possession made him out a real fool. He had no vision even though the UK had a 1999 report calling for legalization. It is screwed up and everyone knows it in the UK. It has to be debated for a more practical solution before a June implementation.The advancement of the intolerance of the status quo by the Internet community cannot be overlooked. Somehow the percentage of Americans that believe cannabis needs medical introduction rose from 73% to 80%. Now I say the question of the year is why/how can Congress and the Dummy-in-Residence ignore this fact. How is it that someone cannot get a Congressman to talk about the shunning of overwhelming public support of a scientific and medical fact?I think the MPP assault on the national disgrace of John Walters and his lies is going to be bigger than the WAMM raids if they go after him and his lies and denounce him continually as not being worthy of public employment since he has obviously chosen to side with commercial interest instead of the public good with tremendous financial and social costs.There is a new website worth mentioning in the UK- http://www.ukcia.org/ - where cia stands for Cannabis Internet Activist. At this link you would read this- There are lots of cannabis cafes up and down the country now. UKCIA will only bring publicity to those who either want it or have it forced onto them by the actions of the police. It will also talk about the two important court cases that came on November 13th.Then there is the fact that the Liberal Democrats have adopted the course of cannabis legalization and may ride the cannabis issue from the third-place party to overcome the second-place Tories. This is a big deal because it is a party energized by youth and it is not going to remove its stance to please some other party.The 14th International Conference on the Reduction of Drug Related Harm will be held in Chiang Mai from April 6-10, 2003 - http://www.drugtext.org/ This will be just in time for the debate coming about the UN Single Convention.2002 was a year of a rising tide. A lot of prohibitionists were lost. The remaining prohibitionists are holding out with their Fortress of Insanity. We have to assault the Insanity until it falls. I have two more $4.20s and am up to 10. And you?1 [ Post Comment ] Comment #1 posted by FoM on December 26, 2002 at 15:21:41 PT Rep. Dan Burton Link US Congressman Slams Drug War, Hints at LegalizationRep. Dan Burton We’ve been fighting this fight for 30 to 40 years, and the problem never goes away....Don't just talk about education. Don't just talk about eradication. Don't just talk about killing people like Escobar, who’s gonna be replaced by somebody else. Let's talk about what would happen if we started addressing how to get the profit out of drugs. http://www.thememoryhole.org/drugs/burton-drugs.htm [ Post Comment ] Post Comment