Texas gov. clears man wrongfully convicted of rape

[Judi Lynn]

Source: Associated Press

Posted on Monday, 03.01.10
Texas gov. clears man wrongfully convicted of rape
By BETSY BLANEY
Associated Press Writer

LUBBOCK, Texas -- Texas Gov. Rick Perry on Monday pardoned a man who died in prison after serving more than 13 years for a wrongful rape conviction.

Perry granted the state's first posthumous pardon to Tim Cole in Austin after receiving a recommendation from the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles.

Cole was convicted of a 1985 rape of a Texas Tech University student in Lubbock. The Army veteran was cleared by DNA evidence in 2008, nine years after he died in prison of complications from asthma at age 39.

"I am so happy," Ruby Session, Cole's mother, said from her Burleson home. "I just know that Tim is up there smiling."


Read more: http://www.miamiherald.com/2010/03/01/1507133/texas-gov-clears-man-wrongfully.html

[Judi Lynn]

1. Background on the story:

February 06, 2009
Effort to clear Fort Worth man's name reverberates through Austin

The family of army veteran Timothy Cole is trying to get their son's name cleared this week in a hearing in Austin.

On Wednesday, state Rep. Marc Veasey passed a resolution honoring Cole's life and recognizing his exoneration.

For over a decade, Cole denied being responsible for several rapes on the Texas Tech University campus in the 1980s. While in jail, another inmate, Jerry Johnson, confessed to the crimes but authorities didn't believe him. In 2008, nine years after Cole's death, DNA evidence confirmed Johnson had been the rapist all along.

http://startelegram.typepad.com/politex/2009/02/effort-to-clear-fort-worth-mans-name-reverberates-through-austin.html



Rape victim Michelle Mallin came to Austin last week to clear the name of wrongly convicted Timothy Cole.
Photo by Jana Birchum

FEBRUARY 13, 2009: NEWS
Cole's Posthumous Exoneration Is First for Texas
BY JORDAN SMITH

Weeping on the witness stand Feb. 5, Ruby Session said she remembers the last time she held her son. It was 1986, and she was sitting on a floor with her 26-year-old son, Timothy Cole, rocking him in her arms, as he wondered aloud how it could be that he had just been convicted of the rape of Michelle Mallin – a rape he did not commit. Indeed, DNA testing conducted last year proved that Lubbock Co. police got the wrong man. The real culprit, Jerry Wayne Johnson, is already in prison, serving life for two other rapes. The revelation came too late to free Cole, however, who died in prison in 1999. But on Friday afternoon, Travis Co. District Judge Charlie Baird formally exonerated Cole – setting free, at least, his name and reputation. According to the Innocence Project of Texas, it is the first posthumous exoneration in Texas history. "I find that Tim­othy Cole's reputation was wrongly injured, that his reputation must be restored, and that his good name must be vindicated," Baird said. "I find that Timothy Cole shall be and is hereby exonerated."

http://www.austinchronicle.com/gyrobase/Issue/Story?oid=oid:740144

http://i.usatoday.net.nyud.net:8090/news/_photos/2009/02/03/exoneratex.jpg
Texas family fights for man's posthumous exoneration
Updated 2/3/2009 11:32 PM

By Kevin Johnson, USA TODAY
FORT WORTH — Tim Cole spent 13 years languishing in Texas prison infirmaries before a major asthma attack triggered his death in 1999.
His family, who is fighting to clear Cole's name in the 1985 rape of a Texas Tech University student, is convinced his confinement hastened the end of his life at 39.

Last year, long-sought DNA testing implicated another man, Jerry Wayne Johnson, in the crime. Imprisoned on two other rape convictions, Johnson, 49, has confessed to the attack in writing.

Yet the Lubbock court that convicted Cole more than two decades ago has declined to issue a formal exoneration.

More:
http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2009-02-03-exoneration_N.htm

[rasputin1952]

3. Oh God...

even after another confesses...there was no follow up?

Now comes the question...how many others?

:(

[tabasco]

4. "The Lubbock court that convicted Cole

more than two decades ago has declined to issue a formal exoneration."

Goddamn fucking assholes. :mad:

[tabasco]

5. "They all look alike to me!"

--Stupid idiot Michelle Mallin.

[alstephenson]

2. How sad.

Another wasted life.