\u201cThis is a story about how our idea of justice gets corrupted when we declare war on something.\u201d\u00a0\u2014 Jeff Blackburn, criminal defense attorney<\/p>\n
On July 23, 1999, undercover narcotics agent Thomas Coleman carried out one of the biggest drug stings in Texas history. By the end of the blazing summer day, dozens of residents in the sleepy farming town of Tulia had been rounded up and thrown behind bars. Thirty-nine of the 46 people accused of selling drugs to Coleman were African American. But disturbing evidence about the undercover investigation and Coleman\u2019s past soon began to surface.<\/p>\n
Tulia, Texas<\/i> follows the 1999 raid and its aftermath, which roiled the small rural community. When Gary Gardner, a retired white farmer, questioned the arrests, other residents who were convinced of the defendants\u2019 guilt criticized him for raising the issue publicly. More questions were raised after 13 defendants were convicted and given unusually long prison sentences of 25, 60, and in some cases even 90 years. The arrest of 22-year-old Freddie Brookins Jr. came as a shock to his family. A celebrated high school athlete, Freddie \u2014 who had no prior criminal record \u2014 was given a 20-year sentence. When a lawyer named Jeff Blackburn found numerous discrepancies in Tom Coleman\u2019s testimony, further investigation revealed an outstanding warrant for Coleman\u2019s arrest. Coleman, who had been named Texas Lawman of the Year, was caught lying and tried for perjury. A judge referred to him as \u201cthe most devious, non-responsive law enforcement witness this court has witnessed in 25 years on the bench in Texas.\u201d<\/p>\n
Yet despite evidence showing a clear miscarriage of justice in the original trials, some Tulia residents held on to their belief that all those who had been arrested were guilty and that Coleman\u2019s \u201cmistakes\u201d were merely legal technicalities. And as former defendants tried to mend their disrupted lives and the town attempted to resume life as usual, the residents of Tulia \u2014 both white and black \u2014 were left with feelings of suspicion and distrust of their neighbors. <i>Tulia, Texas<\/i> shows how America\u2019s war on drugs and its over-zealous law enforcement, combined with racial divisions, have exposed deep-seated animosities and even starker injustices.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Tulia, Texas<\/i> is the story of a small town\u2019s search for justice and the price Americans pay for the nation\u2019s war on drugs.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"topic":[1225,1264,1226],"class_list":["post-221","films","type-films","status-publish","hentry","topic-politics-and-government","topic-race-ethnicity","topic-social-justice"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n