Allison V. Smith Archive

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1/30/09--- -- Fort Worth, TX, U.S.A
-- Centerpiece planned for Wednesday, 2/4/09. Tim Cole spent most of his 13 years in prison languishing in Texas prison infirmaries before a major asthma attack killed him in 1999. His brother and mother, who had long proclaimed Cole's innocence in the 1985 rape of a Texas Tech University student, are convinced that the harsh conditions of confinement only hastened the 38-year-old's death. Last year, long-sought DNA testing implicated another man, Jerry Johnson, in the crime. And Johnson, imprisoned on a separate rape conviction, has confessed to the attack in writing. Yet despite the compelling biological evidence and written confession, the Lubbock district court that convicted Cole more than two decades ago has declined to issue a formal exoneration. The man who prosecuted Cole, Jim Bob Darnell has ignored Cole's lawyers requests to intervene in the case. Left with no other options, Cole's attorneys say they are now pursuing an extraordinary posthumous legal ruling to clear Cole's name. The strategy is unprecedented for Texas and rare in the United States where some legal analysts fear that others also have died before they could offer proof of their innocence. Jeff Blackburn, Cole's attorney, says one of many bitter ironies in the case is that Darnell, now a state judge, received a letter from Johnson in 1995 in which the convicted rapist admitted his guilt in the Cole case. Blackburn says Darnell never pursued Johnson's claims and has declined to cooperate with Cole's attorneys. "That was four years before Tim Cole died," Blackburn says, referring to the timing of Johnson's letter. "As far as I'm concerned, Tim Cole's life could have been saved." A special two-day hearing, beginning Feb. 5, in Austin will decide whether Cole's family will be permitted to seek the exoneration they have sought for nearly 25 years. "Somebody has to do the right thing," Blackburn says.
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Photo by Allison V. Smith, Freelance
1/30/09--- --

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1/30/09--- -- Fort Worth, TX, U.S.A<br /> -- Centerpiece planned for Wednesday, 2/4/09. Tim Cole spent most of his 13 years in prison languishing in Texas prison infirmaries before a major asthma attack killed him in 1999. His brother and mother, who had long proclaimed Cole's innocence in the 1985 rape of a Texas Tech University student, are convinced that the harsh conditions of confinement only hastened the 38-year-old's death. Last year, long-sought DNA testing implicated another man, Jerry Johnson, in the crime. And Johnson, imprisoned on a separate rape conviction, has confessed to the attack in writing. Yet despite the compelling biological evidence and written confession, the Lubbock district court that convicted Cole more than two decades ago has declined to issue a formal exoneration. The man who prosecuted Cole, Jim Bob Darnell has ignored Cole's lawyers requests to intervene in the case. Left with no other options, Cole's attorneys say they are now pursuing an extraordinary posthumous legal ruling to clear Cole's name. The strategy is unprecedented for Texas and rare in the United States where some legal analysts fear that others also have died before they could offer proof of their innocence. Jeff Blackburn, Cole's attorney, says one of many bitter ironies in the case is that Darnell, now a state judge, received a letter from Johnson in 1995 in which the convicted rapist admitted his guilt in the Cole case. Blackburn says Darnell never pursued Johnson's claims and has declined to cooperate with Cole's attorneys. "That was four years before Tim Cole died," Blackburn says, referring to the timing of Johnson's letter. "As far as I'm concerned, Tim Cole's life could have been saved." A special two-day hearing, beginning Feb. 5, in Austin will decide whether Cole's family will be permitted to seek the exoneration they have sought for nearly 25 years. "Somebody has to do the right thing," Blackburn says. <br /> -- <br /> <br /> <br /> Photo by Allison V. Smith, Freelance<br /> 1/30/09--- --