Texas Issues Tim Cole, Who Died in Prison, Its First Posthumous Pardon

(March 2) – Gov. Rick Perry of Texas has granted the state's first posthumous pardon to a man who spent 13 years in jail for a wrongful rape conviction following a campaign by his family to clear his name.

The man, Tim Cole, died in prison in 1999 at age 39 while serving a 25-year sentence. He was cleared by DNA evidence in 2008, and was pronounced innocent in 2009 by state district Judge Charles Baird, who said Cole had "suffered the greatest miscarriage of justice imaginable in our criminal justice system."

Texas inmate Jerry Wayne Johnson, center, and photo of Timothy Cole.

Harry Cabluck, AP

An inmate appears at a February 2009 court hearing on the case of Timothy Cole, whose photo is at right. Cole was serving a 25-year sentence for rape when he died in 1999. DNA evidence in 2008 showed that he didn't commit the crime.

Cole's mother, five brothers and sister expressed their happiness at the decision announced yesterday.

After receiving a phone call from Perry, Cole's mother, 73-year-old Ruby Session, said Monday: "I'm so happy. I knew it would come. I just didn't know when."

"To say the wheels of justice turn slow was an understatement when it came to Tim," said one of his brothers, Cory Session, the Fort Worth Star-Telegram reported.

Session, who is policy director for the Innocence Project of Texas, which pushed heavily to clear Cole's name, added, "The question is: How many more Tim Coles are out there?"

The project's Web site, which says Texas has more verified wrongful convictions than any other state, lists the names of 40 people, including Cole, who have been exonerated of crimes in DNA testing.

In a statement, Perry said he had been looking forward to the day he could call Session and tell her he'd pardoned her son. He had earlier been uncertain whether he had the legal right to grant a pardon, but the state attorney general clarified the law in January.

Perry's move came on the eve of today's primary election for governor. Perry, who is running for an unprecedented third four-year term, faces a tough challenge from a fellow Republican, the three-term Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchinson.

There were no comments on the pardon from Perry's opponents in today's primaries.