Coleman defends Tulia busts in "60 Minutes" segment

AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF

Friday, September 26, 2003

Tom Coleman, who faces perjury charges related to his part in the racially-charged Tulia drug busts, says he's proud of what he did in the Panhandle town and that he's no racist, despite using an epithet "a lot."

The epithet is "common slang" and "a greeting," Coleman tells CBS's "60 Minutes" journalist Ed Bradley in Sunday's telecast.

But he tells Bradley, who is black, that he wouldn't use the slur with him. "Oh, no sir, not you," Coleman says on the show.

He goes on to say that it's OK to use the word around others, according to a news release from the show.

The interview, conducted at Coleman's home in Waxahachie this summer, has drawn the interest of the special prosecutor in a perjury case against Coleman. Rod Hobson said Friday he'll file a motion next week seeking a subpoena for the entire interview � not just what is aired � as possible evidence at Coleman's trial.

Coleman has done at least two other interviews, with an Amarillo television station and the BBC, but none since being charged.

Coleman, 44, and no longer in law enforcement, was indicted in April stemming from testimony he gave at post-trial hearings this spring. He worked alone and had no corroboration in his work as an undercover drug agent.

"I have no idea what's in the interview, but obviously if he's talking about the allegations against him, that's evidence in a criminal case," Hobson said.

Coleman's attorney, John H. Read II of Dallas, said he wouldn't have taken Coleman's case if he didn't believe he was innocent.

"He didn't do anything wrong," Read said. "He did nothing inappropriate and we'll prove that."

No date has been set for Coleman's trial.

In July 1999, 46 people � 39 of whom are black � were arrested. Authorities found no drugs or money during the arrests.

The arrests shined an international spotlight on the town of about 5,000 and led civil rights groups to claim it was racially motivated. Coleman is white.

Last month, Gov. Rick Perry pardoned 35 of the 38 who were prosecuted solely on Coleman's word. Coleman tells Bradley that corroborating evidence such as surveillance video or photographs "would have helped, but that's not how the operation went."

Coleman stands behind his work, despite a judge in court documents calling him "the most devious, non-responsive law enforcement witness this court has witnessed in 25 years."

"A lot of juries during the trial, they spoke their verdict and that was a lot of juries," Coleman says on the show. "I didn't intentionally target anyone in Tulia. It turned out that way. It's just where the road led me."

"The defendants know when it boils down to it ... they handed me the dope and I handed them the money."

He also discounts an alibi for one of those whose case was dismissed. Charges against Tonya White were dropped in April 2002 after she presented evidence that she couldn't have been in Tulia on Oct. 9, 1998, when Coleman claims to have bought drugs from her.

"It's not good enough (evidence) for me," Coleman tells Bradley. "All I know is that she was in Tulia selling me dope that day."

White counters Coleman's contention.

"That's not possible because I was at the bank in Oklahoma City at 9:45 withdrawing $8 and they got my signature on my withdrawal slip," she says on the show.

He tells Bradley the ordeal has been hard on him.

"Well, its took my career away from me, but I'm surviving," Coleman says. "It's been hard...but I'm proud of what I did in Tulia."