|
Newsbrief:
12
Tulia
Victims
Walk
Out
of
Jail
6/20/03
The people arrested and convicted
on drug charges after the notorious Tulia, Texas, drug bust of 1999 are
going home. Twelve of the 15 people remaining in prison on Tulia
charges were released on bond Monday to await a ruling by the Texas Court
of Criminal Appeals that should end their cases once and for all.
The move came after Ron Chapman, a specially-appointed Texas judge who
oversaw hearings on the cases, ruled that the prosecutions lacked credibility
and the Texas legislature passed a bill that would allow the release of
the remaining prisoners.
But it isn't over yet, according
to attorneys who worked the case. "It's a significant day, but it's
not the end at all," said Vanita Gupta, a lawyer with the NAACP Legal Defense
and Educational Fund. "Our clients are walking out under the cloud
of conviction."
And it could be tough for
the released defendants to hang around, Amarillo lawyer Jeff Blackburn,
who was key in springing the wrongly-convicted Tulia defendants, told the
New York Times. "It's going to be impossible to stay here," said
Jeff Blackburn, a lawyer from Amarillo. "These folks will have virtually
no chance if they stay here. They will be arrested for spitting.
They will be pursued to the ends of the earth."
Things could also get tough
for the Texas criminal justice system, as a congressional committee prepares
to scrutinize the Tulia incident this fall. Meanwhile, others in
Congress are calling for the immediate overturning of the Tulia convictions.
Reps. John Conyers (D-MI), Charles Rangel (D-NY), Bobby Scott (D-VA), Melvin
Watt (D-NC), Maxine Waters (D-CA) and Sheila Jackson Lee (D-TX) joined
more than 40 drug reform, criminal justice, civil liberties and civil rights
groups in decrying the convictions and demanding that the verdicts be overturned.
CNN report: http://www.cnn.com/2003/LAW/06/15/tulia.suspects/
Previous Week Online coverage:
http://www.drcnet.org/wol/290.shtml#tulia14
http://www.drcnet.org/wol/287.html#thetulia13
http://www.drcnet.org/wol/284.html#colemanindicted
http://www.drcnet.org/wol/281.html#tuliavictory
http://www.drcnet.org/wol/254.html#demandfreedom
http://www.drcnet.org/wol/252.html#tuliainvestigation
http://www.drcnet.org/wol/212.html#tuliaupdate
http://www.drcnet.org/wol/196.html#neveragain
http://www.drcnet.org/wol/194.html#lynchings
http://www.drcnet.org/wol/194.html#tulia
http://www.drcnet.org/wol/191.html#tuliavideo
http://www.drcnet.org/wol/158.html#investigatingtulia
http://www.drcnet.org/wol/156.html#relief
http://www.drcnet.org/wol/155.html#amarillo
http://www.drcnet.org/wol/154.html#tulia
-- END --
|
Issue #292, 6/20/03
DRCNet
Needs Your Help |
Editorial:
No Drug War Exception to Good and Evil |
The Gathering
in Cartagena: The Global Social Forum Thematic Meeting on Democracy,
Human Rights, War, and the Drug Trade |
DRCNet
Interview: Nancy Obregón, Sub-Secretary General of the Confederation
of Peruvian Coca Growers |
DRCNet
Interview: Anthropologist Anthony Henman |
Dozens
of Students to Embark This Weekend on 50-Mile "Skate for Justice" |
Newsbrief:
12 Tulia Victims Walk Out of Jail |
No
Rockefeller Reform This Session |
Candidate
Dean Bending on Medical Marijuana |
Newsbrief:
RAVE Act Reverberations |
Newsbrief:
Teachers Against Prohibition Reborn as Educators for Sensible Drug Policy |
Newsbrief:
Kentucky Supreme Court Tightens Law on Methamphetamine Prosecutions |
Newsbrief:
Thais Get Drug War Help from US |
Newsbrief:
US-Peru Anti-Drug Flights Set to Resume |
Newsbrief:
Israeli Company Receives Notice of Allowance from US Patent Office for
Synthetic Marijuana Pharmaceuticals |
Teen
Facing 26 Years for First-Time Marijuana Offense Sentenced to Two |
Marc Mauer
Testimony on Comparative International Rates of Incarceration |
The Reformer's Calendar
|
This issue -- main page
This issue -- single-file printer version
Drug War Chronicle -- main page
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