April 25, 2003
Tom Coleman indicted

Former "Lawman of the Year" Tom Coleman was indicted on three counts of lying under oath for his made-up testimony during the Tulia drug trials. If convicted, he faces 10 years in jail and a $10,000 fine. I call that a good start.

Posted by Charles Kuffner on April 25, 2003 to Crime and Punishment | TrackBack
Comments

And he'll probably plea out to a suspended sentence.

Let him serve the aggregate time the innocents he helped convict served. That would be justice.

Posted by: Charles M on April 25, 2003 4:33 PM

I agree, foreclose on his mortgage, wreck his name, and let him serve the added time of all 35 people he imprisoned. Anymore the phrase' I smelled the strong odor of' is a fill in the blank statement for a cop in a metroplex.
Who knows how abusive a small town bigot can be...

Posted by: Rob on September 9, 2003 2:11 AM

Are there any indictments on the way for the people (judges, DA's, etc, jury) who believed the stories of one man (Coleman) with no other evidence?? They are real justice people, aren't they? I think some of the other countries require at least two witnesses (or accusers)(or liars)- take your pick. Since the judges, DA's, and juries believed these lies, guess what that makes them. Of course a DA generally doesn't care whether or not it is the truth, he only cares about if he can win a case, regardless of justice.

Posted by: larry on September 28, 2003 6:58 PM

Tom Coleman along with all of those associated with this mis carriage of justice should all be locked up, tried in a court of law, with their victims as their jurors. Found guilty, sentenced to a Txas Prison Farm, stripped of their family, loved ones, daily lives,dignity, integrity and innocense. Who in the hell do these police, sheriffs, deputies, judges and district attorney think they are. This should have never happened.One of these people should have stepped fprward and blew the whistle on this kangaroo court long before these innocent people were ever put in jail. Tom Coleman is guilty and I despise the bastard. However I feel the other people (sheriff, judge, DA, jurors, drug task force and dept of justice are just as guilty. He deserves to be in the joint, but the judge should be dis-robbed, the DA disbarred, the sheriff and the deputies decommissioned, and the jururs destroyed.
This is just another sample of TEXAS JUSTICE.

Posted by: Denver Koon on September 30, 2003 11:41 PM

And yet most of the defendants pled guilty. Why would they do that if they were innocent? Generally in trials, juries rely on more than the words of one witness. What was the other evidence that convinced 12 people that the defendants were guilty?

Posted by: John on October 1, 2003 3:36 PM

I just want to know just why these people pled guilty. I think that they were guilty, would any of you ple guilty if you did not do something wrong, some of them might not have been I dont know, but I would bet 99.9% of them were. I think some lawyer found a loop hole and this is what made old Tom look like the bad guy, sure he might have not told it just like it happened, but I see it everyday on court tv, and those people get away with it. ????

Posted by: Kelly on October 13, 2003 9:11 AM

I was busted by a Texas cop for cocaine possesion on Christmas Day 2000. He planted them on me. I don't do drugs. I spent 11 days in jail. It cost my wife and me over 10K and untold frustration to get out of the mess. A jury acquited me in July, 2003. A cop planting drugs on you is a very scary situation to be in. It could happen to anybody. There are plenty of bad cops everywhere. Losing your life is just a matter of meeting a bad cop.

Posted by: Carl on October 20, 2003 4:48 PM

Tom Coleman has made poor decisions and should be held accountable for all injustices that he played a part in. This is 2003 and the part he played affected so many lives and families. He is a disgrace to the human race and he should have to serve time for all of the indivdual lives that he affected, no matter what race, ethnicity etc. People are people and you should treat people the way you expect to be treated and they way you would like someone to treat your family members and loved ones. Tom Colemen wanted to be in the "lime light" and he should coudl have found an honest way to go about doing this instead of lies and injustices. He should reap what he has sowed!

Posted by: Renita Strange-Sanders on November 2, 2003 10:18 PM

My husband and I had the misfortune of hiring Tom Coleman a few years ago when we started a repossession business. We did call some references and in hindsight I guess we should have listened to what was not being said. No one had anything bad to say, just didnt have much to say at all. We also ran a criminal background check which came up with nothing, which is surprising now that we know he had been arrested before. My husband and I were split on the decision to hire him, all I had was a "gut feeling" and my husband felt pretty confident about him in light of the fact he had been in law enforcement and was very personable when interviewed. Long story short we ended up in civil court where Tom Coleman sat on the witness stand and just bold face lied. He did so without so much as a glimmer of a guilty conscience. When all this about Tulia, TX came out my husband recalled most of the stories...as Tom Coleman had actually told him, proudly, about some of the things he had done while undercover. He felt that Mr. Coleman was probably just exaggerating, etc. unfortunately it does not appear that was the case. He knew we were about to fire him and he did everything within his power to make sure it was miserable for all. My heart goes out to the innocent people's lives he has destroyed, as I know how that feels, he was primarily responsible for my family losing everything, but at least we did not have to spend time in jail as those people did.

Posted by: Kim on November 20, 2003 12:49 AM

I heard you, I did...Y'all know you right...come own.... Yeehaaaaaaa!!!! It's beginning to look like the cattle and donkeys have more brains in Texas than the jurors who sit in kangaroo courts. This whole case reads like a "Welcome to Texas" promo for the state's tourism bureau - dont it?!!! Perhaps the heat down there has finally gotten to " y'all". Well, alls I can says is, if da guberment ever starts buv ground nucrear testin agin, we all know what'd be the best state to start wit... Yeeeeeeehah!!!!!

Posted by: Courtney on March 11, 2004 12:28 PM

And I thourgh the only thing that stunk in Texass
were the Cowboys

Posted by: Peter Urba on January 10, 2005 1:28 PM