The latest on Tulia

Back in December, I had posted an article on the drug scandal in Tulia, Tx, in which 46 people were arrested on various drug charges - 40 of which were black and the other 6 having strong ties to the black community.  There had been a great deal of criticism about the case, especially when questions about the reliabilty of one of the officers who had been largely responsible for the arrests began to surface.

Bob Herbert of the New York Times had written a story on the situation, and described the reasons for concern.  (To read the full article, you'll have to pay for access to the NY Times archives.):

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.

Of the 46 arrested, 38 eventually either went to trial or pleaded guilty after having seen those who were tried and convicted sentenced to long sentences, in spite of the near lack of evidence.  The other cases were dismissed as the case started to unravel.

Today, the Times is reporting that - nearly 4 years after the arrests were made - prosecutors have filed to have all convictions and plea bargains overturned, and all of the defendents released, though any who are currently in prison will have to remain there until the higher court approves the motion.  They have also agreed to split $250,000 among the defendents, with the usual condition that if they accept this money, they will not be able to sue any of the parties involved in the fiasco.