Timothy Brian Cole

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Charge:	Rape
Sentence:	25 years
Years Imprisoned:	13.22
Year Crime:	1985
Year Convicted:	1986
Year Cleared:	2009
U.S. State or Country of Crime:	Texas
County or Region of Crime:	Lubbock
City of Crime:	Lubbock
Result:	Judicially Exonerated Posthumously - Died in prison
Summary of Case:	"Timothy Brian Cole was wrongly convicted on September 18, 1986 of a March 1985 rape in Lubbock, Texas of a 20-year-old fellow Texas Tech student. His conviction was based on the victim's eyewitness testimony. The victim first picked Timothy Cole out of a photo montage and then selected him from a physical lineup. Cole insisted on his innocence and went to trial after turning down a plea offer that would have resulted in a probationary sentence. Cole was sentenced to 25 years in prison. In 1995 another man convicted of several Lubbock rapes, Jerry Wayne Johnson, confessed to several people that he committed the rape that Tim Cole had been convicted of committing, and he sent a letter to the Lubbock District Court Clerk confessing to the crime. For five years Johnson fruitlessly attempted to get someone in the Lubbock District Court to listen to his confession. Tim Cole was 40 when he died in prison in 1999 of complications from asthma. In April 2008 Johnson voluntarily provided DNA samples for comparison with crime scene biological samples. In May 2008 the DNA test results excluded Tim Cole, but were consistent with Jerry Johnson's DNA profile. In June 2008 the DNA test results were made public, and the Lubbock Avalanch-Journal published a three-part series titled "Hope Deferred," about Cole's case from June 28 to 30, 2008. Although Cole had been dead for ten years, in February 2009 an extraordinary hearing was conducted to determine if the "new" DNA evidence coupled with Johnson's confession warranted overturning Cole's conviction. Cole's conviction was posthumously reversed on February 6, 2009. Johnson cannot be prosecuted for the rape because the statute of limitations expired, however he is serving life in prison for two other 1985 rapes in Lubbock County. On April 7, 2009 the indictment was dismissed by Lubbock County Judge Charlie Baird, who stated, “The evidence is crystal clear that Timothy Cole died in prison an innocent man, and I find to a 100 percent moral, legal, and factual certainty that he did not commit the crime of which he was convicted.”"
Conviction Caused By:	Erroneous eyewitness identification by the victim who first picked him out of a lineup and then made an in court identification of him during his trial.
Innocence Proved By:	"Timothy Brian Cole's rape conviction was posthumously reversed on February 6, 2009 based on exclusionary DNA evidence and the credible confession by Jerry Wayne Johnson to committing the crime."
Defendant Aided By:	Innocence Project of Texas
Compensation Awarded:	"$1,060,000 lump sum payment (State of Texas, 5-9-2011)"
Was Perpetrator Identified?	Yes
Age When Imprisoned:	26
Age When Released:	40
Sex:	Male
Skin/Ethnicity:	Black
Information Source 1:	"Man's Exoneration creates 'perfect storm' for reforms, By Max B. Baker (staff writer), Ft Worth Star-Telegram, February 6, 2009"
Information Location 1:	http://www.star-telegram.com/state_news/story/1189379.html
Information Source 2:	"Texan who died in prison cleared of rape conviction, CNN.com, February 6, 2009"
Information Location 2:	http://www.cnn.com/2009/CRIME/02/06/texas.exoneration/?iref=mpstoryview
Information Source 3:	"Judge clears name of late convict in rape, By Steven Kreytak, Austin American-Statesman, February 7, 2009"
Information Location 3:	http://www.statesman.com/news/content/news/stories/local/02/07/0207exonerate.html
Information Source 4:	"Judge exonerates Timothy Cole, By Elliott Blackburn, Avalanche-Journal (Lubbock, TX), April 7, 2009"
Information Location 4:	http://lubbockonline.com/stories/040709/loc_426805642.shtml
Information Source 5:	"Hope deferred - tim cole's family gets DNA report proving what they always knew, By Elliott Blackburn, Lubbock Avalanch-Journal, June 30, 2008"
Information Location 5:	http://www.lubbockonline.com/stories/063008/loc_297531088.shtml
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Timothy Brian Cole

Charge:

Rape

Sentence:

25 years

Years Imprisoned:

13.22

Year Crime:

1985

Year Convicted:

1986

Year Cleared:

2009

U.S. State or Country of Crime:

Texas

County or Region of Crime:

Lubbock

City of Crime:

Lubbock

Result:

Judicially Exonerated Posthumously - Died in prison

Summary of Case:

Conviction Caused By:

Erroneous eyewitness identification by the victim who first picked him out of a lineup and then made an in court identification of him during his trial.

Innocence Proved By:

"Timothy Brian Cole's rape conviction was posthumously reversed on February 6, 2009 based on exclusionary DNA evidence and the credible confession by Jerry Wayne Johnson to committing the crime."

Defendant Aided By:

Innocence Project of Texas

Compensation Awarded:

"$1,060,000 lump sum payment (State of Texas, 5-9-2011)"

Was Perpetrator Identified?

Yes

Age When Imprisoned:

26

Age When Released:

40

Sex:

Male

Skin/Ethnicity:

Black

Information Source 1:

"Man's Exoneration creates 'perfect storm' for reforms, By Max B. Baker (staff writer), Ft Worth Star-Telegram, February 6, 2009"

Information Location 1:

http://www.star-telegram.com/state_news/story/1189379.html

Information Source 2:

"Texan who died in prison cleared of rape conviction, CNN.com, February 6, 2009"

Information Location 2:

http://www.cnn.com/2009/CRIME/02/06/texas.exoneration/?iref=mpstoryview

Information Source 3:

"Judge clears name of late convict in rape, By Steven Kreytak, Austin American-Statesman, February 7, 2009"

Information Location 3:

http://www.statesman.com/news/content/news/stories/local/02/07/0207exonerate.html

Information Source 4:

"Judge exonerates Timothy Cole, By Elliott Blackburn, Avalanche-Journal (Lubbock, TX), April 7, 2009"

Information Location 4:

http://lubbockonline.com/stories/040709/loc_426805642.shtml

Information Source 5:

"Hope deferred - tim cole's family gets DNA report proving what they always knew, By Elliott Blackburn, Lubbock Avalanch-Journal, June 30, 2008"

Information Location 5:

http://www.lubbockonline.com/stories/063008/loc_297531088.shtml

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