Wrongly Convicted Database Record
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Charge: |
Drug Related (Possession or sale) |
Sentence: |
25 years |
Years Imprisoned: |
4 |
Year Crime: |
1999 |
Year Convicted: |
1999 |
Year Cleared: |
2003 |
U.S. State or Country of Crime: |
Texas |
County or Region of Crime: |
Swisher |
City of Crime: |
Tulia |
Result: |
Pardoned |
Summary of Case: |
"Kizzie Rashwan White was one of the Tulia 38 wrongly convicted of selling and/or distributing cocaine in and around Tulia, Texas based solely on the word of a discredited Swisher County, Texas undercover sheriff's deputy. Kizzie White was the sister of Tonya White, who had charges dropped when she was able to prove she was in Oklahoma City, 200 miles from Tulia, at the same time Tom Coleman claimed he was buying drugs from her in Tulia. Texas Governor Rick Perry pardoned 35 of the Tulia defendants on August 22, 2003." |
Conviction Caused By: |
Perjured testimony of the prosecutions sole witness - a sheriff's deputy |
Innocence Proved By: |
Disclosure during an evidentiary hearing in March 2003 that the testimony of the prosecution's sole witness - Tom Coleman - is wholly unreliable. |
Defendant Aided By: |
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Compensation Awarded: |
"$230,000 plus total. $99,999.96 lump sum payment plus $1,461.04 monthly annuity (State of Texas, 9-7-2007) and, $130,435 (Swisher County and other defendants, May 2004)" |
Was Perpetrator Identified? |
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Age When Imprisoned: |
22 |
Age When Released: |
26 |
Sex: |
Female |
Skin/Ethnicity: |
Black |
Information Source 1: |
"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 1: |
http://justicedenied.org/issue/issue_23/tulia_travesty.html |
Information Source 2: |
"Gov. Perry Grants Pardons to 35 Tulia Defendants, Press Release, Office of the Governor Rick Perry, August 22, 2003" |
Information Location 2: |
http://governor.state.tx.us/news/press-release/4995/ |
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: |
"More Tulia sting defendants could get money from Texas, by Betsy Blaney, Houston Chronicle, August 28, 2006" |
Information Location 5: |
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/metropolitan/4147492.html |
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Comments About Case: |
Innocents Database Created and Maintained by Hans Sherrer innocents@forejustice.org