Ya gotta hand it to Governor Rick Perry, like him or not, dude certainly knows how to campaign and keep his name front and center in media news cycles. What a brilliant move on his part to exonerate Tim Cole, a man falsely convicted of rape who served 13 of a 25 year sentence in Texas prisons where he tragically died of an astma attack in 1999.

Cole had maintained his innocence the whole time he was in jail and after he died his family fought to have his name cleared. For almost ten long years they worked tirelessy. They hooked up with the Texas Innocence Project and were finally able to prove that Tim was falsely jailed through DNA evidence along with a confession from the man who actually committed the crime. This was two years ago and since that time the family fought to have him pardoned.

According to Texas law, Governor Perry claimed he couldn't pardon Cole in death, but that was found to not be the case earlier this year when a legal ruling from Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott was issued.

Perry, who has seen more men executed on his watch than any other Governor including predecessor George Bush, being the man that he is waited to the day before today's primary to pardon Cole, thus insuring that he would make local and national news shown 'doing a good thing' and being compassionate. I'm not mad at his actions. In fact we applaud him, however, this pardon is no substitute for repairing a broken system that in our opinion has claimed more than few innocent lives.Can anyone say Todd Willingham?

One wants to think Perry has taken an important first step in that direction, but instinct and maybe a bit of cynism suggest he did this to score political points...

Below is a video we made during the 10th Annual March Against the Death Penalty featuring Tim Coles brother Cory making an impassioned plea for his brother to be pardoned.

-Davey D-

Perry pardons exonerated convict posthumously

By PEGGY FIKAC
Austin Bureau

AUSTIN – Gov. Rick Perry on Monday pardoned Timothy Cole, who died in 1999 while serving prison time for a rape he did not commit.

The pardon was welcomed by Cole's family members, who had continued the fight to clear his name. His brother, Cory Session, said Cole died when an asthma attack caused him to go into cardiac arrest.

“Vindication, exoneration and a full pardon from the governor. Those are the things he wanted,” Session said. “We're positive Tim is smiling right now, as we are.”

Cole had been convicted in the 1985 rape of a Texas Tech student and sentenced to 25 years in prison, based, in part, on the victim's identification of him as her attacker and what a judge later called faulty police work and a questionable suspect lineup. The victim later worked to help clear Cole's name.

After another man repeatedly confessed to the crime, Cole was cleared by DNA evidence in 2008. A state judge exonerated him in 2009.

Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott in January cleared the way for Perry's action when he issued a legal opinion saying the governor had the authority to grant a posthumous pardon. Perry received the State Board of Pardons and Paroles' recommendation for a pardon Monday morning, election eve, according to a spokeswoman.

“I have been looking forward to the day I could tell Tim Cole's mother that her son's name has been cleared for a crime he did not commit,” Perry said in a statement. “The State of Texas cannot give back the time he spent in prison away from his loved ones, but today I was finally able to tell her we have cleared his name, and hope this brings a measure of peace to his family.”

Perry had met before with Cole's family and called to tell his mother, Ruby Session, of Monday's pardon, Cory Session said.

“We're religious people, and we believe he (Cole) is rejoicing in heaven with his father and grandparents,” Cory Session said.

The Legislature last year approved a measure to increase compensation for people who are wrongfully convicted. Under the law, Cole's family would be entitled to more than $1 million — $80,000 a year for each of the 13 years he was imprisoned, according to Sen. Rodney Ellis' office.

Session said his mother, however, is focused on pursuing a federal lawsuit in Lubbock in an effort to get more information about Cole's case. The compensation “is not what's on her mind,” he said.

Ellis, D-Houston, who championed Cole's case, requested the legal opinion from Abbott. Ellis said more work remains to be done to guard against similar situations, such as pushing to require every law enforcement agency in Texas to have written eyewitness identification procedures based on best practices.

“While this is the first posthumous pardon in Texas,” Ellis said in a statement, “we have a long way to go if we are going to make sure it is the last.”

pfikac@express-news.net