Perjury Trial Starts for Tainted Texas Drug Sting

LUBBOCK, Texas (Reuters [here]) - Former undercover agent Tom Coleman, once hailed as the Texas lawman of the year for a drug sting in which nearly 10 percent of a small town's black community were arrested, went on trial on Monday on perjury charges for testimony he gave as that case collapsed.

Coleman faces two to 10 years in prison if convicted on three charges of aggravated perjury for testimony he gave at an evidentiary hearing related to the release of those convicted in the sting.

Dressed in a dark suit, Coleman stood and looked at each of the over 100 people called as potential jurors as they entered the courtroom. Earlier in the morning, Judge David Gleason dismissed motions from the defense to have the case thrown out on procedural matters.

Former lawman Coleman was the lone investigator in a 1999 sting that led to the arrests of 46 people, almost all black, for involvement in an alleged drug ring in the northern Texas town of Tulia -- with a population of about 5,000. Those arrested represented about 10 percent of Tulia's black community.

No drugs or large sums of money were found in the sting, but 38 of those arrested were convicted. The other eight were not prosecuted.

Juries in rural Swisher County sided with the testimony of Coleman even though there no evidence to back charges that the defendants participated in a drug ring. Some of those convicted received up to 90 years in prison.

Several defendants accepted plea bargains when faced with the choice of a trial in the Texas county and long prison sentences.

Texas Gov. Rick Perry in 2003 pardoned 35 of convicted defendants. Last year, 45 of those arrested in the sting split $6 million paid to them as a settlement for civil rights violations by the 26 counties and three cities that took part in a federal drug task force for which Coleman worked.

In 2003, Coleman testified at a finding of fact hearing in the drug sting, and he was later charged with perjury for testimony he gave then. That hearing was called to determine if the defendants received fair trials.

Retired state District Judge Ron Chapman, who presided over that hearing, called Coleman devious and said the former lawman was "not a credible witness."

The perjury trial is expected to take less than a week.

U.S. Sen. John Cornyn, a Republican who was the Texas attorney general at the time of the Tulia drug sting, is among those subpoenaed to testify by prosecutors.