Conviction Of Undercover Officer In Tulia Case Upheld

It finally seems as though the long and winding road of the Tulia saga is over as the conviction of the undercover officer that started all of this mess has been upheld:

The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals ruled Tom Coleman’s aggravated perjury conviction in 2005 should stand.

In 2006, the 7th Court of Appeals in Amarillo upheld the conviction.

Coleman was sentenced to 10 years probation after a jury found him guilty of falsely testifying in a 2003 hearing that he did not learn of a theft charge against him until August 1998. Court documents showed that Coleman had earlier learned of the accusation that he stole gasoline while working for the Cochran County Sheriff’s Office.

The 1999 drug sting in Tulia led to the arrest of 46 people — most of them black — on drug charges.

This has indeed been a long time in coming.

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