Texas Wrestles With Wrongful Convictions

(CBS)  The Texas house yesterday passed the Tim Cole Compensation Act, named for a wrongly convicted man exonerated years after his death, and the full legislative is expected to approve the bill, reports CBS News correspondent Don Teague in Austin.

The law increases lump sum payments to the exonerated from the current $50,000 to $80,000 for each year of imprisonment - no small matter in the state that leads the nation with 86 DNA exonerations.

The judge's words were simple: "Timothy Cole was, and is, innocent." It was the decision Cole's family had waited two decades to hear.

In 1985, a serial rapist attacked five women near Texas Tech University. Among his victims was then 20-year old sophomore Michelle Mallin.

"It's constantly in my mind all the time," Mallin said recently.

Cole, a 25-year-old college student was convicted, largely because Mallin identified his picture in a photo lineup.

"I honestly thought it looked like him," she said.

A DNA test in 2008 revealed Cole did not commit the rape. And in his final opinion judge Charles Baird concluded Cole was convicted because "evidence was downplayed or deliberately ignored" by prosecutors."

But Cole wasn't in court to hear his name cleared. In 1998, after 13 years in prison, he had an asthma attack in his cell and died.

"Timothy was caring, he loved family, he had high hopes for the future," Cole's mother, Ruby Sessions, told Teague.

In the courtroom, justice may have finally been done for Timothy Cole, but for his family it's not nearly enough. Now they're working the halls of the state capitol to make sure what happened to Cole doesn't happen to someone else.

"My brother, he didn't die in vain, he just didn't," Cole's brother Kevin Kennard said.

The family is pushing reform of the witness identification process, video taping of police interviews, and independent review of cases. But some officials believe the measures are unnecessary.

"There probably isn't any other public servant who isn't subject to more scrutiny and someone else looking at their work before, during and after it's done than a prosecutor," said John Bradley of the Texas County District Attorney Association.

Since 1989 there have been more than 230 DNA exonerations nationwide. In at least 33 of those cases, prosecutorial misconduct was cited as the reason for the wrongful conviction.

Jim Bob Darnell, who prosecuted the Cole case, maintains he acted properly. But, "My feeling was, that someone had just kicked me in the stomach, he said. "I wish we could undo it, but we can't."

"I haven't the slightest idea what Jim Bob Darnell was thinking when he was trying that case. I do know he wanted a conviction," said Corey Sessions, another of Cole's brothers.

What the family wants now is a posthumous pardon from the governor of Texas.

[dennisgreen5]

Texas sucks

[lynn_austin]

Talk about a bittersweet mother's day for Mrs. Sessions. We may not be able to change the hang 'em high culture here in my state overnight, but at least we have groups like the Innocence Project of Texas looking over prosecutors' shoulders. Until every DA in the state is like the one in Dallas, Texas depends entirely on these guys to free the innocent men and women from our prisons.

[shortyfudpuc]

Hmmm. 32 pages of comments. Maybe CBS news should look into this. Must be a BIG PROBLEM if it generated this many pages of comments. I know from an experience my daughter had in Texas, if you pay $$$$$$$$ to a local shyster you will walk. Otherwise you WILL have a CRIMINAL record before they are done and finished with you. She went before a judge???( if you want to cal him that) to argue her alleged speeding ticket. (Speed trap ticket) She asked what the line of demarcation for speed limit signs were. She was stopped about 600 feet before a 45 MPH sign for doing 51 MPH. The judge told her it was at the officer discretion. When she persisted asking for a legal definition, she was fined for contempt of court for for asking the same question 3 times. As part of her contempt, she was ordered to spend 10 days in jail. Here is where the shyster comes in and says for $3500 I will get you out without a criminal record. She refused to pay the extortion money. So she ended up with a $2500 contempt of court fine(did not know they could go that high for asking questions) and an arrest record. Oh, and the best part was when the JUDGE said if she appealed the ruling, he would implement the rest of the contempt citation. ONE YEAR IN JAIL. Nothing like the Jackboots on you neck, HUH.

[Ceres6]

The criminal actions by some police officers and prosecutors in sending innocent people to death row in Texas, are without a doubt, much worse that the crime committed by Skylar Deleon in California. A few years ago, when the family members of an innocent man executed in Texas requested an investigation, they were thretened and intimidated by the same Police Department and Justice System responsible for the legal abomination.

[hatesthecolt]

This speaks volumes about redneck Texas - the home of George W. Bush.
Posted by tromba59

... and even more volumes about why the death penalty is subject to so many appeals. Yes Tim Cole died in jail, but TX didn't "kill" him probably. I wonder how many TX (and others) have killed because they "thought" they were guilty.

[Movn1]

People in Texas must be so embarrassed...First they spawn the Bushes, then their juries are so stupid they can't distinguish between the guilty & the innocent.

[ll9956]

I presume the Cole family will receive the $80K per year they are due from the state of Texas. This assumes the new law is retro-active. It certainly wasn't clear from the article that they will be paid. I find the term, "pardon", to be distasteful. The man was INNOCENT!!! There is nothing to pardon. They should expunge his record and issue some sort of official document, declaring that his name is cleared and that the state of Texas is at fault for convicting and incarcerating an innocent man.

[jt_lancer]

Once again, taxpayers get stuck with the bill for incompetent and corrupt state and local prosecutors.

And what punishment do the prosecutors who wrongly convicted these people get? Why, NONE, of course. There is no personal responsibility for incompetence and corruption on their part.

The 'Just Us' system at work.

[tromba59]

This speaks volumes about redneck Texas - the home of George W. Bush.

[DefendLiberty]

"I honestly thought it looked like him," she said.

Yes, "They all look the same" to white Texans. We should INSIST that Texas secedes. No more US taxpayer money subsidizing the "Sovereign State of Ignorance and Bigotry".