Tag Archives: Timothy Cole

RIP, Jeff Blackburn

Posted on February 9, 2023 by Charles Kuffner

Here’s a guy who made a difference. In the summer of 1999, police in the tiny town of Tulia carried out one of the largest drug stings in West Texas history. Nearly 50 people were arrested, almost all of them … Continue reading →

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Keeping track of innocence-related bills

Posted on February 22, 2011 by Charles Kuffner

From Grits: The House Criminal Jurisprudence Committee has posted an agenda which includes three important pieces of innocence legislation carried by Chairman Pete Gallego: HB 215 Relating to photograph and live lineup identification procedures in criminal cases. HB 219 Relating … Continue reading →

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Interview with State Sen. Rodney Ellis

Posted on August 30, 2010 by Charles Kuffner

We move from the House to the Senate this week for conversations with the Democratic Senate delegation of Harris County. First up is State Sen. Rodney Ellis, who served three terms on Houston City Council in District D before being … Continue reading →

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Public defender’s office approved

Posted on August 27, 2010 by Charles Kuffner

Excellent! A state panel has awarded Harris County a $4.1 million grant to launch a public defender office, which is expected to start taking cases early next year. The county plans to roll out the office in phases over the … Continue reading →

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What happens to exonerees?

Posted on May 28, 2010 by Charles Kuffner

We know that quite a few people who had been in prison have been exonerated and freed in recent years, and we know that a fund was created by the Lege last year to give them some compensation for their … Continue reading →

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Tim Cole officially pardoned

Posted on March 2, 2010 by Charles Kuffner

This is a small bit of good to come out of a great injustice. The [Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles] sent a letter to Tim Cole’s attorney at the Innocence Project of Texas on Friday saying that it had … Continue reading →

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Perry goes on the attack as evidence of a coverup mounts

Posted on October 14, 2009 by Charles Kuffner

The evidence keeps coming in. Lawyers representing Gov. Rick Perry on two occasions grilled Austin lawyer Sam Bassett on the activities of his Texas Forensic Science Commission, telling him its probe into a controversial Corsicana arson case was inappropriate and … Continue reading →

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Tim Cole advisory panel begins its work

Posted on October 13, 2009 by Charles Kuffner

The Tim Cole Advisory Panel on Wrongful Convictions, which was created to much fanfare by the Lege this spring, begins its mission this week in the shadow of the Cameron Todd Willingham uproar. Cole was wrongfully convicted in 1986 and … Continue reading →

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Perry sneers at Willingham evidence

Posted on September 25, 2009 by Charles Kuffner

This is exactly what I expect from Rick Perry. Governor Rick Perry today strenuously defended the execution of a Corsicana man whose conviction for killing his daughters in a house fire hinged on an arson finding that top experts call … Continue reading →

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Forensic Science Commission gets its report on Willingham case

Posted on August 27, 2009 by Charles Kuffner

It’s going to be a lot harder for anyone to claim with a straight face that the state of Texas has never executed an innocent man. Key testimony that sent a Corsicana auto mechanic to the execution chamber for setting … Continue reading →

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Ellis asks for AG opinion on Cole pardon

Posted on July 17, 2009 by Charles Kuffner

You remember Timothy Cole, the wrongly-convicted man who died in prison ten years ago and has since been exonerated in a court of inquiry. The Lege passed a bill named for him to increase compensation to those who have been … Continue reading →

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Adding Tim Cole amendment to the call

Posted on July 1, 2009 by Charles Kuffner

As you saw from the Senate’s pre-filed bills, there are a number of items being pushed by legislators that aren’t a part of the call for the special session. If one believes Governor Perry, it’s unlikely that anything else will … Continue reading →

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Legislative wrapups

Posted on June 3, 2009 by Charles Kuffner

With sine die in the rearview mirror, tis the season for legislative wrapups. Here are a couple I’ve come across. – First, from Bike Texas, which had the fairly easy task of just following one bill: The final version of … Continue reading →

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Two for Timothy Cole

Posted on May 18, 2009 by Charles Kuffner

On Friday, the House concurred with Senate amendments to HB1736, the Timothy Cole Act that increases compensation to those that have been wrongly convicted. I had said on Monday that it had passed both chambers at that time, but I … Continue reading →

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Monday Lege roundup

Posted on May 11, 2009 by Charles Kuffner

Lots of legislative action today beyond the voter ID vaudeville act. Here’s a quick roundup of some other bills of interest. – HB1736, also known as the Tim Cole Act for the man who was posthumously exonerated this February, has … Continue reading →

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Busy day yesterday

Posted on April 25, 2009 by Charles Kuffner

There were a lot of bills passed yesterday by one chamber or the other. My mailbox is full of press releases touting them. I’m going to go ahead and print them beneath the fold as a roundup. A few bills … Continue reading →

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All DNA, all the time

Posted on February 18, 2009 by Charles Kuffner

How often should we collect DNA from someone who’s been arrested? Some people think the answer should be a lot more often than we do now. Texas is one of several states that draw DNA samples from anyone convicted of … Continue reading →

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Exonerating the deceased

Posted on February 4, 2009 by Charles Kuffner

One of the things Eric Berger focused on in his story about the relevance and importance of Charles Darwin some 200 years after his birth was the rise of DNA and its application to criminology. Today, DNA evidence is as … Continue reading →

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