1999 Tulia drug arrests

Arrests for cocaine dealing in Texas, US October 2023 October 2023 1999 Tulia drug arrests July 23, 1999 USA Texas location map pindrop.jpg Tulia, Texas Tulia, Texas 34 32 09 N 101 45 31 W region:US-TX_type:event inline,title 47FortySeven Although the book titled Tulia: Race, Cocaine, and Corruption in a Small Texas Town by Nate Blakeslee quotes the number of arrested as forty-seven (with names given),Blakeslee 2005 410–417 there are other books that quote the number at forty-six (Without names).Balko 2021 38 Delivery of a controlled substance Pardoned 35 Police raid Tom Coleman(undercover as T. J. Dawson) A total of 47 individuals,FortySeven the majority of whom were African American, were arrested in 1999 in Tulia, Texas on charges of cocaine dealing as a result of an undercover operation carried out by agent Tom Coleman. Coleman's testimony was crucial in the convictions of 38 of the 47. Years later, 35 of the 38 incarcerated were pardoned by Texas governor Rick Perry. The story was widely covered by national media outlets such as The New York Times, 60 Minutes, People, and A&E Networks. Pretense In 1994, as part of the United States' war on drugs, President Bill Clinton signed into law the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act.Johnson 2007 305 The first draft of the congressional bill was written by then-Senator Joe Biden of Delaware in cooperation with the National Association of Police Organizations and was sponsored by Representative Jack Brooks of Texas.Brooks 1994Kranish 2020 Nationwide, states received 100,000 new police officers, $9.7 billion in funding for prisons, and $6.1 billion in funding for prevention programs.DOJ 2020 In Tulia and small towns alike, task forces received funding for each arrest and conviction they made, which could be used as they pleased the following year.Bradley 2003 11:17 Undercover operation Using the alias T. J. Dawson, agent Tom Coleman went undercover for 18 months, posing as a buyer who needed to purchase cocaine for his girlfriend. Coleman worked for the Panhandle Regional Narcotics Trafficking Task Force.Johnson 2007 287 He was hired by Sheriff Larry Stewart of Swisher County, Texas, in 1998, operating out of Amarillo.Hunt 2022 On the morning of July 23, 1999, the Swisher County Sheriff's Department, in cooperation with local authorities, conducted a collective apprehension and arrest of 47 citizens in Tulia, Texas.Curtis 2003 251Johnson 2007 286 Thirty-eight of the arrested were African American,Blakeslee 2005 410–417 which amounted to around 15 percent of Tulia's African American population.Johnson 2007 284ACLU 2003 After the highly publicized drug arrests in Tulia, Coleman was honored as Officer of the Year in Texas. He was photographed with John Cornyn, who was then the Texas Attorney General and later a U.S. Senator.Johnson 2007 290 Convictions During his undercover operation in Tulia, Tom Coleman claimed to have purchased at least 117 illegal narcotics from 47 different defendants. Except for 21 defendants who were charged with the first-degree felony of selling drugs to Coleman within 1000 ft m of a school or park, all other defendants were charged with second-degree felonies for the purchases made between February 1998 and July 1999.Blakeslee 2005 409–410 This was in spite of Coleman not supplying any recorded materials, such as audio or videotape, or corroboration by second officers. There were also no drugs or weapons found in the initial raid. Coleman frequently wrote brief reports that included very little information about the defendants. He also identified suspects incorrectly in a few instances, resulting in dismissal of cases.Blakeslee 2005 5 Pardons Sparked by a letter written by Gary Gardner, who was distraught by the lack of evidence, to District Judge Ed Self,Bean 2021 Amarillo civil rights attorney Jeff Blackburn—along with Vanita Gupta from the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund and a handful of attorneys from firms around the country—began investigating the Tulia defendants' cases. Eventually, the case became a cause célèbre, and money was raised to legally challenge the cases. Many had already served several years in prison before this process gained momentum. By 2004, Blackburn and his team had freed most of the accused and a $6,000,000 collective settlement was reached to avoid further litigation in civil court.Johnson 2007 287 Of the 47 original defendants, Texas governor Rick Perry pardoned 35 of them. Nine of the twelve defendants who were still on this list either had their charges dropped before they went to trial or were put on deferred adjudication, meaning that they were not found guilty in the end. Since the tenth defendant was underage when he committed the offense, the conviction was not recorded on his adult record. When the two remaining were apprehended in the Coleman sting, they were already on probation for a different offense; this probation was canceled, and they were sent to jail. The Coleman charges never resulted in their conviction.Blakeslee 2005 409–410 Accused The names of the defendants, their race, age at the time of arrest, and whether they were pardoned are shown below.Blakeslee 2005 410–417 + One through twenty-four # Number Name Race Age Pardoned 1 Dennis Mitchell Allen African American 34 2 James Ray Barrow African American 31 3 Landis Barrow African American 22 probation Was on probation for previous offense; probation was revoked 4 Leroy Barrow African American 59 5 Mandis Charles Barrow African American 22 probation 6 Troy Benard African American 29 7 Zury Bossett African American 20 dismissed Case was dismissed 8 Fred Wesley Brookins Jr. African American 24 9 Yul Eugene Bryant African American 31 dismissed 10 Eddie Cardona Hispanic 41 dismissed 11 Marilyn Joyce Cooper African American 39 12 Armenu Jerrod Ervin African American 19 13 Michael Fowler African American 18 14 Jason Paul Fry African American 25 15 Vickie Fry African American 27 16 Willie B . Hall African American 38 17 Cleveland Joe Henderson Jr. African American 25 18 Mandrell L. Henry African American 24 19 Christopher Eugene Jackson African American 27 20 Denise Kelly African American 29 21 Etta Kelly African American 23 defferred Plead to three years deferred adjudication 22 Eliga Kelly Sr. African American 62 23 Calvin Kent Klein White 22 24 Minor White 16 Sentenced to boot camp for juvenile offenders + One through twenty-four # Number Name Race Age Pardoned 25 William Cash Love White 25 26 Joseph Corey Marshall African American 23 27 Laura Ann Mata Hispanic 23 28 Vincent Dwight McCray African American 38 29 Joe Welton Moore African American 58 30 James Moreno Hispanic dismissed 31 Daniel G. Olivarez Hispanic 20 32 Kenneth Ray Powell African American 40 33 Benny Lee Robinson African American 24 34 Finaye Shelton African American 25 35 Donald Wayne Smith African American 31 36 Lawanda Smith African American 25 defferred 37 Yolanda Yvonne Smith African American 25 38 Romona Lynn Strickland African American 26 39 Timothy Wayne Towery African American 27 40 Chandra Leah Van Cleave White 22 dismissed 41 Billy Don Wafer African American 42 dismissed 42 Kareem Abdul Jabbar White African American 24 43 Kizzie R. White African American 23 44 Tonya Michelle White African American 30 dismissed 45 Alberta Stell Williams African American 49 46 Jason Jerome Williams African American 19 47 Michelle Williams African American 30 Conviction of Tom Coleman In 2003, the state appointed two prosecutors to hold evidentiary hearings to determine if Coleman's testimony was the sole basis for conviction, and to find out if county officials withheld information from the defense.Hastings 2003 D1 On Friday, January 14, 2005, Coleman was convicted of perjury in the separate evidentiary hearing trial, not related to the original 47 defendants that he testified against. During the five-day trial held in Lubbock, Texas, one of the three counts was dropped, leaving two alleged instances of perjury. He was acquitted on one count and found guilty on the second count.Blakeslee 2005 406 Coleman was sentenced to 10 years probation with a $7,500 fine.Balko 2021 245 The 7th Court of Appeals of Texas in 2006 upheld the conviction.KFDA 2006 Coleman could not be prosecuted for his testimony given during the trials of the drug defendants because the statute of limitations had expired.NBC 2005 Drug Law Enforcement Evidentiary Standards Improvement Act of 2007 In the aftermath of the Tulia drug sting, the Drug Law Enforcement Evidentiary Standards Improvement Act of 2007 was twice introduced in the United States Congress, but not passed. It aimed to increase the evidentiary standard required to convict a person for a drug offense and to require screening of law enforcement officers or others acting under color of law participating in drug task forces.Lee 2007 Media The story was widely covered by national media outlets such as 60 MinutesBradley 2003 and The New York Times.NY-Times 2005 ...Coleman's methods [of law-enforcement] were the subject of investigative reports in dozens of media outlets, from The New York Times, to Court TV, to The Independent of London... Blakeslee, Nate Tulia: Race, Cocaine, and Corruption in a Small Texas Town p. 5 The first newspaper article that was published about the arrests was by Michael Garrett of the Tulia Sentinel titled "Tulia's Streets Cleared of Garbage".Hastings 2003 D3Garrett 1999 It was three years before the story went national. Starting in 2002, Bob Herbert, a journalist for The New York Times, wrote eleven op-ed articles that played a significant role in spreading the Tulia story across the United States. He wrote articles such as "Kafka in Tulia" which exposed the racism that occurred in the community,Herbert 2002a and "Tulia's Shattered Lives" which depicted how the arrest affected the lives of the incarcerated.Herbert 2002bMusik Nussbaum 2017 The book Tulia: Race, Cocaine, and Corruption in a Small Texas Town by Nate Blakeslee was to be adapted into a film directed by John Singleton starring Billy Bob Thornton. Halle Berry was cast to play a lawyer in the film. Berry was to play an attorney for the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund. The movie was never completed.McNary 2007 Notes and references Notes Citations 20em Sources 30em https://www.aclu.org/documents/racist-arrests-tulia-texas Racist arrests in Tulia, Texas June 30, 2003 aclu.org American Civil Liberties Union October 9, 2023 ACLU 2003 Bean Alan 2021 https://archive.org/details/in-memoriam-gary-o.-gardner-friends-of-justice In Memoriam: Gary O. Gardner October 9, 2023 Blakeslee Nate Nate Blakeslee 2005 Tulia: Race, Cocaine, and Corruption in a Small Texas Town 978-1-58648-219-0 New York PublicAffairs 1st https://books.google.com/books?id=RyFaHp0L3uMC October 9, 2023 Google Books Bradley Ed Ed Bradley September 28, 2003 A lying undercover agent arrested 47 people, most of them black, on drug charges Video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g3r4999Z4a8 October 9, 2023 New York City 60 Minutes YouTube Brooks Jack B. September 13, 1994 H.R.3355 – 103rd Congress (1993–1994): Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994 https://www.congress.gov/bill/103rd-congress/house-bill/3355 October 9, 2023 congress.gov Curtis James September 28, 2003 Miscarriage of Justice in Tulia Texas USA Video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ij2dhW_Du8U&t=23s October 9, 2023 New York City A&E Networks YouTube Garrett Michael https://friendsofjustice.files.wordpress.com/2022/12/image-3.png 1999 Tulia Sentinel October 9, 2023 Tulia's Streets Cleared of Garbage Hastings Deborah June 22, 2003 Has Town Learned from the 1999 Miscarriage of Justice? The Monitor McAllen, Texas D1–D4 https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-monitor-tulia-texas-1999-d1/134265584/ October 9, 2023 newspapers.com Herbert Bob Bob Herbert July 29, 2002a Tulia's Shattered Lives https://www.nytimes.com/2002/08/05/opinion/tulia-s-shattered-lives.html The New York Times New York City October 9, 2023 subscription Herbert Bob Bob Herbert August 5, 2002b Kafka In Tulia https://www.nytimes.com/2002/07/29/opinion/kafka-in-tulia.html The New York Times New York City October 9, 2023 subscription Hunt Alex May 4, 2022 https://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/entries/tulia-drug-bust-of-1999 Tulia Drug Bust of 1999 tshaonline.org Texas State Historical Association October 9, 2023 Johnson Kevin R. 2007 Taking the 'Garbage' out in Tulia, Texas: The Taboo on Black-White Romance and Racial Profiling in the 'War on Drugs' https://heinonline.org/HOL/LandingPage?handle=hein.journals/wlr2007&div=17 Wisconsin Law Review 2007 2 283–318 0043-650X October 9, 2023 subscription November 29, 2006 Coleman Appeal Rejected https://www.newschannel10.com/story/5747097/coleman-appeal-rejected/ KFDA-TV Amarillo, Texas October 9, 2023 KFDA 2006 Kranish Michael June 8, 2020 Joe Biden let police groups write his crime bill. Now, his agenda has changed. The Washington Post https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/joe-biden-let-police-groups-write-his-crime-bill-now-his-agenda-has-changed/2020/06/08/82ab969e-a434-11ea-8681-7d471bf20207_story.html October 9, 2023 Lee Sheila Jackson 2007 http://www.govtrack.us/congress/bill.xpd?bill=h110-253 H.R. 253: No More Tulias: Drug Law Enforcement Evidentiary Standards Improvement Act of 2007 October 9, 2023 McNary Dave August 1, 2007 John Singleton to direct 'Tulia' https://variety.com/2007/film/markets-festivals/john-singleton-to-direct-tulia-1117969579/ Los Angeles Variety October 9, 2023 Mosle Sara November 6, 2005 Tulia: Race, Cocaine, and Corruption in a Small Texas Town https://www.nytimes.com/2005/11/06/arts/tulia-race-cocaine-and-corruption-in-a-small-texas-town.html The New York Times October 9, 2023 NY-Times 2005 Musik Nussbaum Melissa August 7, 2017 Tulia, Texas, is a complicated place of pain, redemption https://www.ncronline.org/opinion/my-table-spread/tulia-texas-complicated-place-pain-redemption National Catholic Reporter Kansas City, Missouri October 9, 2023 January 14, 2005 Texas undercover cop convicted of perjury https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna6827494 NBC News Associated Press New York City October 9, 2023 NBC 2005 1994 Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act https://www.ojp.gov/ojp50/1994-violent-crime-control-and-law-enforcement-act ojp.gov Office of Justice Programs, United States Department of Justice February 14, 2020 October 9, 2023 DOJ 2020 Radley Balko Radley Balko The Rise of the Warrior Cop: The Militarization of America's Police Forces June 2021 PublicAffairs October 9, 2023 978-1-61039-212-9 Archive.org https://archive.org/details/riseofwarriorcop0000balk_z4a9/page/245/mode/2up New York City External links Books Bean, Alan, Taking Out the Trash in Tulia, Texas, Advanced Concept Design, 2010. 978-0-98261-620-8 Blakeslee, Nate, Tulia: Race, Cocaine, and Corruption in a Small Texas Town, PublicAffairs, 2005. 978-1-58648-219-0 Television g3r4999Z4a8 "A lying undercover agent arrested 46 people, most of them black, on drug charges"—60 Minutes ij2dhW_Du8U "Miscarriage of Justice in Tulia Texas USA"—Crime Stories Category:Race-related controversies in the United States Category:African-American-related controversies Category:Overturned convictions in the United States Category:Police misconduct in the United States