Some Lecture Notes on "Tulia"

In order for me to be able to wrap up class lectures on our last book, "Tulia," by the end of this week, I am going to post some lecture notes. These are quite abbreviated. Nonetheless, as usual this is all that you will be responsible for knowing from these chapters for the final exam.
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CHAPTER 7: DONNIE SMITH

A. Just to re-cap, Donnie had had problems with crack cocaine before, and it was probably a mistake to call him to testify because he had to admit his previous crack cocaine use, which McEachern used effectively against him.

1. McEachern also portrayed the defense as attacking law enforcement, and so appealed to "Swisher County common sense" to convict Donnie Smith. (I guess that "common sense" did not include paying attention to the facts.)


CHAPTER 8: FREDDIE BROOKINS, JR.

A. Freddie had a lot of family support, particularly from his father (who you will see interviewed during the video documentary we'll see). And they actually hired an attorney who did not do a much better job than the court-appointed public defenders.

B. His attorney was able to question Coleman WITHOUT THE JURY PRESENT. But he failed to make a proper case to the judge as to why Coleman should have been questioned with the jury present.

C. McEachern used a "low-blow" to cast suspicion on Freddie -- what I would call "playing the race card" -- that is when McEachern questioned Freddie about an interracial relationship he had, which was irrelevant but cast him in an unfavorable light to the jury. See, pp. 156-157.


CHAPTER 9: ONE RIOT, ONE RANGER

A. We pick back up with Gary Gardner, who along with a retired minister, founded "Friends of Justice" in support of the Tulia defendants. Gardner collected every scrap of paper he could about Coleman's investigation -- "He meticulously recorded every case made by Coleman in Swisher Co.", which later becomes the basis for the "Dream Team's" counterattack.

B. Gardner and the "Friends of Justice" were responsible for interesting Blakeslee and "The Texas Observer" to do a long investigative journalist piece, which caught the attention of the national media.

1. There was a local backlash to this, for example, note the "letter to the editor" allegedly written by Coleman himself in which he indulged in some more fantasizing: "In the letters column, the "Herald" ran a bizarre screed about the bust, supposedly authored by Coleman himself, in which he described witnessing crack babies and automatic weapons in the homes of Tulia defendants. 'Have you ever seen a little girl having to perform oral sex to get drugs?' the letter read in part. (As if he had witnessed such a thing in Tulia.) 'Have you ever stood in the driveway of a drug dealer's house listening to him brag about his new boat or fancy truck he bought on the misery of these children?' The notion of Joe Moore or Donnie Smith buying a nice truck, much less a boat, brought some laughs from the defendants' advocates. The letter made Tulia sound like South Central Los Angeles." (p. 164)


PART THREE

CHAPTER 10: BLACK CARDS AND WHITE CARDS

A. Blakeslee deals with the racial divide in Tulia (which the video documentary brings out well). Notes how white Tulians responded to being characterized as racists by "circling the wagons" (that is, becoming defensive). Black folks saw this case as, in part, a reaction against race mixing in Tulia -- many of the defendants, such as Freddie Brookins, had been involved in interracial relationships. Blakeslee describes a couple of court cases where interracial contact was an issue.
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That brings us to Chapter 11: Jump Out Boys, which I will pick up with on Thursday, 12/9, and go through to the end. You should be well into the book, if not finished, already. Tomorrow (Tues., 12/7) we will see the video documentary, and then I will let the families discuss what questions they plan to submit for the final exam. REMEMBER, THOSE FINAL EXAM QUESTIONS ARE DUE BY 1PM THIS WEDNESDAY, 12/8.