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Wrongly Convicted Database Record
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Charge: |
Robbery (includes armed robbery) |
Sentence: |
20 years |
Years Imprisoned: |
11 |
Year Crime: |
1999 |
Year Convicted: |
2000 |
Year Cleared: |
2011 |
U.S. State or Country of Crime: |
Texas |
County or Region of Crime: |
Swisher |
City of Crime: |
Tulia |
Result: |
Judicially Exonerated |
Summary of Case: |
"Landis Charles Barrow and his twin brother Mandis Charles Barrow were two of the Tulia 38 wrongly convicted of selling and/or distributing cocaine in and around Tulia, Texas based solely on the word of Swisher County, Texas undercover sheriff's deputy Thomas Coleman. A total of 46 people were arrested in Tulia based on Coleman's evidence of drug transactions. At the time they were arrested on July 23, 1999, Mandis and Landis were on deferred adjudication community supervision for ten years for an aggravated robbery charge in Amarillo, Texas. Based on their drug arrests a hearing was held in May 2000 during which Coleman testified he bought cocaine from the brothers. On May 10, 2000 the judge found the brothers had sold the cocaine and revoked their deferred adjudication by finding them guilty of the robbery. Mandis Barrow and Landis Barrow were each sentenced to 20 years in prison. Evidence was discovered that Coleman had fabricated the drug charges against the 46 people arrested as a result of Coleman's undercover investigation. Texas Governor Rick Perry pardoned 35 of the Tulia defendants on August 22, 2003. Because Mandis and Landis Barrow were in prison because of their robbery convictions, and not directly because of a drug conviction based on Coleman's testimony, they were two of the three Tulia defendant's not pardoned for technical reasons unrelated to their innocence. The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals denied the Barrow brothers habeas corpus petition on July 16, 2003. The brothers filed successive state habeas petitions based on the new evidence that Coleman wasn't a credible witness and that their trial lawyer provided ineffective assistance of counsel for failing to call a rebuttal witness who would have testified that he spent the entire day with Coleman on which the alleged drug transactions with the Barrows' took place, and no such transactions occurred. The district court summarily denied the petition without holding an evidentiary hearing or making any findings of fact or conclusions of law. The brothers appealed, and on December 19, 2009 the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals remanded for findings of fact and ordered appointment of counsel for the brothers, who were representing themselves. The trial court judge recommended granting the petition after determining that at the time of the brother's adjudication hearing in 2000 State agents had knowledge about "Tom Coleman's "questionable" credibility." The judge concluded that without Tom Coleman's testimony, "the Court would not have proceeded to adjudication and would have continued Applicant on community supervision." On June 30, 2010 the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals reversed the brothers robbery convictions because their deferred adjudication agreements had been terminated based on the since discredited testimony of Tom Coleman. Mandis Barrow was released on parole in 2009. Landis Barrow was released in 2010 after the Court's ruling. Ironically, the brothers had shared in the 2004 $6 million settlement of a federal civil rights lawsuits against persons, cities and counties involved in the arrest of the 46 people in Tulia. The brother's pro-rated settlement was $130,435 each." |
Conviction Caused By: |
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Innocence Proved By: |
"On June 30, 2010 the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals granted state habeas corpus petition and set-aside robbery conviction based on "newly-discovered evidence about Agent Tom Coleman's reliability and "pattern of perjury" shows that Applicant's due process rights were violated at the adjudication hearing." On February 4, 2011 Potter County District Court Judge Don Emerson dismissed the charges." |
Defendant Aided By: |
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Compensation Awarded: |
"$130,435 (Swisher County and other defendants, May 2004)" |
Was Perpetrator Identified? |
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Age When Imprisoned: |
21 |
Age When Released: |
32 |
Sex: |
Male |
Skin/Ethnicity: |
Black |
Information Source 1: |
"Judge reverses probation decision of Tulia brothers, By Janelle Stecklein, Amarillo Globe News, February 5, 2011" |
Information Location 1: |
http://amarillo.com/news/local-news/2011-02-05/decision-reversed-tulians |
Information Source 2: |
"Travesty in Tulia, Texas - Frame-up of 38 Innocent People Orchestrated by a County Sheriff, Prosecutor and Judge, By Hans Sherrer, Justice Denied magazine, Issue 23, Winter 2004, pp. 3-5, 27" |
Information Location 2: |
http://justicedenied.org/issue/issue_23/tulia_travesty.html |
Information Source 3: |
"Perry pardons 35 in Tulia case, By Greg Cunningham (staff), Amarillo Globe-News, August 23, 2003" |
Information Location 3: |
http://amarillo.com/stories/082303/new_perrypardons.shtml |
Information Source 4: |
"Tulia, Texas, Center on Wrongful Convictions, Northwestern School of Law" |
Information Location 4: |
http://www.law.northwestern.edu/cwc/exonerations/txtuliasummary.html |
Information Source 5: |
"Ex Parte Barrow, No. AP-76,366 (Tex. Ct of Crim Appeals, 6-30-2010) (Granted state habeas corpus petition and set-aside robbery conviction based on "newly-discovered evidence about Agent Tom Coleman's reliability and "pattern of perjury" shows that Applicant's due process rights were violated at the adjudication hearing.")" |
Information Location 5: |
"https://scholar.google.com/scholar_case?case=15341751608217393907&q=Mandis+Barrow+&hl=en&as_sdt=6,48" |
Book About Case: |
""Taking out the Trash in Tulia, Texas," By Alan Bean (Advanced Concept Design Books, 1st edition, January 2010)" |
Book Information: |
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Book About Case (2): |
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Book Information (2): |
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Movie About Case: |
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Comments About Case: |
Innocents Database Created and Maintained by Hans Sherrer innocents@forejustice.org