Punish those who wrongfully convict

Tuesday, February 10, 2009

Timothy Cole died in prison an innocent man, victimized by a gross
miscarriage of justice. Although a judge in Austin cleared Cole's
name last week, work still awaits the Legislature to ensure that such
a travesty never occurs again.

Like most of the 33 other wrongfully convicted men in Texas who were
subsequently cleared, Cole was black. He was attending Texas Tech in
1985 when fellow student Michelle Mallin was raped. Prosecutors
already had another strong suspect in the case, Jerry Wayne Johnson,
a black man already charged in two other rapes. But they kept that
information from Mallin and disregarded it as they constructed a case
against Cole. He received a 25-year prison sentence.

Multiple witnesses testified that Cole was in an apartment studying
when the attack occurred. Substantial physical evidence linked
Johnson to the attack, but absolutely none pointed to Cole. Police
did not put Johnson in a lineup or even present his photo to Mallin.
Believing authorities' assertions that they had other evidence
pointing to Cole's guilt, she mistakenly identified him as the attacker.

Johnson confessed in 1995, and DNA tests proved that he did it. But
Lubbock authorities, including prosecutor Jim Bob Darnell, ignored
the confession. They let Cole languish in prison until he died in
1999, at age 39.

Justice was never served for Cole or his family. Prosecutors decided
on Cole's guilt long before they had a case against him. They used
racial stereotypes to sway Mallin and to convince the all-white jury
to disregard Cole's black witnesses. Those authorities have never
answered for their actions.

State Sen. Rodney Ellis of Houston is introducing two bills this
session to tighten lineup-identificati on procedures and require the
recording of suspect interrogations. Another pending bill would boost
compensation for victims of wrongful convictions. Lawmakers should
also seriously consider a proposal supported by Dallas District
Attorney Craig Watkins and the Texas Innocence Project to criminalize
the withholding of exculpatory evidence in cases such as Cole's.

The shame should forever haunt Darnell and his cohorts for the
injustice they committed. For others who follow, the prospect of
criminal prosecution should chill their conviction-at- all-costs
enthusiasm.

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