The Case Of Billy Wafer V. Coleman's Case

Blackburn was candid that most of his clients were “in the (drug) life at some level” and many of them had prior arrests. For instance, Billy Wafer, was on probation for possession of marijuana at the time when he was accused of selling cocaine to Coleman. “I ain’t an angel but I’ve never sold drugs,” said Wafer. Wafer, unlike most of the other defendants, had his charges dropped because he had a rock solid alibi with time cards from his job. Also, his supervisor testified verifying he was at work when Coleman claimed he sold him cocaine.

Coleman never presented any physical evidence in any of his cases, such as drug money, recorded conversations, finger prints, surveillance videos, etc. He relied simply upon his testimony, which was shaky at best as he contracted himself several times over the course of various trials. By all apparent indications, Coleman took shortcuts by being fast and loose with the facts. Again, financial incentives seemingly manufactured this scandal and

Coleman had never worked undercover before moving to Tulia. In fact, he had been fired from his previous law enforcement position. His previous supervisor warned Swisher County (Tulia) officials that he may have mental illnesses and was unfit for police work. Also, Coleman left town after establishing nearly $7,000 in debts from various local merchants. As a result, he was arrested for abuse of power and theft, a separate charge for stealing gas. Those charges took place while he was undercover in Tulia, but he wasn’t suspended from the investigation. Nonetheless, the public defenders didn’t present this information to the juries. In the end, Coleman was convicted of perjury and fired from a subsequent position at a different police department after having sex with his criminal informant, a drug-addicted