# Tulia injustice: Shame on Texas, shame on America **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [August 28, 2002, 5:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tulia-injustice-shame-on-texas-shame-on-america/125909 "2002-08-28T05:44:55Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![LCP2972](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8e7dd6/32.png) [@LCP2972](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LCP2972)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2003, 1:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tulia-injustice-shame-on-texas-shame-on-america/125909/41 "2003-04-26T01:11:55Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by DanielWithrow \* > \*\*I was delighted to see that the convictions are being vacated, but I agree: $250,000 to compensate 38 people for spending time in prison? What the hell is that? > > I’d say at a minimum each person should be paid for their prison time a salary equal to what the prosecutor who sent them to prison earns. \*\* Now, don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying this is right, but I belive they’re actually getting more than the maximum generally allowed for by this state for folks that have thier cases overturned after they serve jail/prison time. I’m not positive, (I’ll go look it up as soon as I get the chance), but I believe 5k is the most the state will reimburse for wrongful imprisonment. 250k/38 works out to 6578.94 and some other change. seems outrageous, the prison would get close to 50k for each one of them per year. jails/prisons are big bidness in Texas, and probably elsewhere, in our “land of the free” ---
**Author:** ![LCP2972](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8e7dd6/32.png) [@LCP2972](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LCP2972)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2003, 1:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tulia-injustice-shame-on-texas-shame-on-america/125909/42 "2003-04-26T01:25:07Z")
damn, I was wrong, again. I hate when that happens. from here : [http://www.capitol.state.tx.us/cgi-bin/cqcgi?CQ\_SESSION\_KEY=TLMMEOCDQHMM&CQ\_QUERY\_HANDLE=129596&CQ\_CUR\_DOCUMENT=1&CQ\_TLO\_DOC\_TEXT=YES](http://www.capitol.state.tx.us/cgi-bin/cqcgi?CQ_SESSION_KEY=TLMMEOCDQHMM&CQ_QUERY_HANDLE=129596&CQ_CUR_DOCUMENT=1&CQ_TLO_DOC_TEXT=YES) * * * § 103.052. Amount and Timing of Compensation (a) A person who meets the requirements of Section 103.001 is entitled to compensation in an amount equal to: (1) $25,000 multiplied by the number of years served in prison, expressed as a fraction to reflect partial years, if the time served is less than 20 years; or (2) $500,000 if the time served is 20 years or more. (b) A person who is owed an amount of compensation equal to or greater than $50,000 shall be paid in two equal annual installments. © If requested by the claimant, the Texas Department of Mental Health and Mental Retardation shall provide appropriate counseling for one year to the claimant at a mutually agreed-on location at no charge to the claimant. Added by Acts 2001, 77th Leg., ch. 1488, § 1, eff. June 15, 2001. * * * so they are getting flat screwed, worse than I thought actually. they wont even get what’s theirs by Texas law. ---
**Author:** ![Robb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/a183cd/32.png) [@Robb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robb)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2003, 1:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tulia-injustice-shame-on-texas-shame-on-america/125909/43 "2003-04-26T01:43:10Z")
> [@](#): > > they wont even get what’s theirs by Texas law. But, they are only entitled to it if they meet the criteria in section 103.001 > [@](#): > > [§ 103.001. Claimants Entitled to Compensation](http://www.capitol.state.tx.us/statutes/ci/ci0010300.html#ci001.103.001) > (a) A person is entitled to compensation if: > (1) the person has served in whole or in part a sentence in prison under the laws of this state; > (2) the person: > (A) has received a full pardon on the basis of innocence for the crime for which the person was sentenced; or > (B) has been granted relief on the basis of actual innocence of the crime for which the person was sentenced. > (b) A person is not entitled to compensation under Subsection (a) for any part of a sentence in prison during which the person was also serving a concurrent sentence for another crime to which Subsection (a) does not apply. ---
**Author:** ![LCP2972](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8e7dd6/32.png) [@LCP2972](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LCP2972)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2003, 2:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tulia-injustice-shame-on-texas-shame-on-america/125909/44 "2003-04-26T02:34:20Z")
well, maybe I’m premature in saying this, but it sure looks to me as if: 1:(at least the 14 still locked up, more than that all told though) have served part of a sentence in prison under the laws of texas 2: A:while not a full pardon, an overturning of ALL the cases, should(not will, I never said will.) result in a least some pardons. B:I honestly don’t know how to read this one, I don’t know what they mean by relief. Is it release from prison? or relief as in monetary awards? b:as far as I know, none of them were serving sentences for anything else, but none of the articles I’ve seen mention this. Note: I’m not a lawyer, or even moderately trained in law, so I may be talking completely out of my ass. ---
**Author:** ![Read\_Neck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e19b73/32.png) [@Read\_Neck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Read_Neck)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2003, 3:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tulia-injustice-shame-on-texas-shame-on-america/125909/45 "2003-04-26T03:49:03Z")
There is no excuse for this incident and I would never condone it but this is NOT typical Texas law enforcement. The key is " Regional Narcotics Trafficking Task Force". This is a Federal-State funded “Task Force” that has dozens of “Colemans”. (Yes, TitoBenito,there’s one in Austin.) Perjury and evidence tampering are common with this bunch. The DEA busted one of their “poster children” with more than a ton of cocaine in a county owned horsetrailer a few years back. I hear they’re being disbanded because of “budget” concerns. I wonder how many more “Tulias” got swept under the carpet. ---
**Author:** ![Robb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/a183cd/32.png) [@Robb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robb)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2003, 3:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tulia-injustice-shame-on-texas-shame-on-america/125909/46 "2003-04-26T15:23:05Z")
These strike me as the controlling phrases: “full pardon on the basis of innocence” and “basis of actual innocence”. Based on what I’ve read in the paper, it appears that their cases are being looked at from the standpoint of insufficient evidence. It doesn’t seem to me that anyone is trying to prove that they are actually innocent, instead it seems that they are trying to show that they couldn’t have been convicted with the evidence available. But, it’s not easy to tell this just from the newspaper accounts of it. ---
**Author:** ![Read\_Neck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e19b73/32.png) [@Read\_Neck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Read_Neck)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2003, 3:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tulia-injustice-shame-on-texas-shame-on-america/125909/47 "2003-04-26T15:45:52Z")
[http://www.aclutx.org/news/narcoticstaskforce.htm](http://www.aclutx.org/news/narcoticstaskforce.htm) It’s not just in Tulia. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tulia-injustice-shame-on-texas-shame-on-america/125909.md?page=2)