Despite being tried, convicted, and sentenced to decades in prison, a group of attorneys led by Amarillo civil rights attorney Jeff Blackburn and Vanita Gupta from the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, ultimately succeeded in having the defendants released. In 2003 Texas Governor Rick Perry granted full pardons to thirty-five of the Tulia defendants. In 2005, Coleman was convicted of perjury and sentenced to 10 years' probation and a fine.
Despite being tried convicted and sentenced to decades in prison a group of attorneys led by Amarillo civil rights attorney Jeff Blackburn and Vanita Gupta from the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund ultimately succeeded in having the defendants released In 2003 Texas Governor Rick Perry granted full pardons to thirty-five of the Tulia defendants In 2005 Coleman was convicted of perjury and sentenced to 10 years' probation and a fine