Tim Cole

 

Tim Cole.

If you haven't heard this name, remember it.  It is an important name.  It's a seminal name.  It is THE name in the criminal justice system that has changed...and is changing things...in a major way.

Tim Cole died in 1999.  In Texas.  In prison.  And innocent. 

He died an innocent man.

Tim was a veteran and a Texas Tech student.  But in 1985 his life changed when he was falsely accused of rape.  He was offered probation before trial.  Yet he persisted in his innocence and went to trial.  He was convicted.  He was sent to prison.  He fought for his freedom.  He later became eligible for parole.  A standard condition of making parole that the parolee accept responsibility for the crime.  He could have been free...to an extent.  Yet he persisted in his innocence.  He died in prison at the young age of 39, of complications due to asthma.  A travesty. 

In 2007, with the help of the Innocence Project of Texas Tim Cole was exonerated...posthumously.  A first in Texas history.

Today, the State Historical Commission acknowledged and recognized that the system forgot Tim Cole.  A another first in Texas history.  A marker was placed at Mount Olive Cemetery in Fort Worth near his gravestone to forever remember Tim and his life, his struggle, and the system that failed him.  

I was proud to be there for this historical event representing not just the Innocence Project of Texas but everyone who fights to keep the innocent from having to endure what Tim Cole endured. 

Tim Cole.  Remember his name.  The name that will forever be synonymous with actual innocence.  Remember what he stands for.  Don't forget him.  Fight to end injustice in our justice system.

Getting to the Fun Part

Trials are the fun, exhausting, challenging, and frustrating part about being a lawyer.  As a lawyer you only get to the "fun" part, i.e., trial, when you have a client courageous enough to put her freedom on the line and actually go to trial.  After all, in a criminal trial real freedom is on the line.

I had one such client Monday.  I am very proud of her.  She was charged with assault family violence - a false accusation.  It wasn't just a misdemeanor case to her.  It was everything.  It was her life.  It was her daughter's life.  It would determine her ability to see her daughter.  To be a real, present mom to her daughter. 

Minutes before the jury panel came in, the prosecutors offered her a 90 day deferred Class C misdemeanor ticket to the tune of $100 with no family violence finding.  Most people would have taken this.  A huge concession.  A guarantee.  Pay a $100 fine.  No probation.  Go home.  Stay out of trouble for 90 days.  No family violence finding. 

She turned it down without a second thought.  She couldn't live with herself if she took the guarantee, the government's compromise, their need to get just an ounce of her flesh.  By turning down the compromise she stood up for herself for the first time.  She stood for something.  She stood for truth. 

I was very proud of her in that moment.  I was very proud to be her lawyer.  And I know it must have showed.  After two full days we got a 25 minute "NOT GUILTY"

And in that moment my pride for her was reciprocated.  There's nothing like that feeling - pride in a client for having the courage to stand for herself, pride in a job well done, pride in a jury for seeing the truth and being strong enough to say so.  And there's nothing quite like another person's genuine pride in you for having changed their life in a way no other could...that is the fun part.