30 years after wrongfully convicting Timothy Cole or rape, the city of Lubbock, Texas has installed a statue of Cole in an effort to honor Cole and recognize and remember the miscarriage of justice that sent him to prison. Cole died in prison in 1999 and was posthumously proven innocent by DNA evidence in 2009. He was wrongfully convicted of raping a fellow student at Texas tech after she picked him out of a lineup. He was convicted and sentenced to 25 years, after refusing a plea deal that would allow him to be eligible parole if he confessed. While Cole was in prison Jerry Wayne Johnson wrote to police admitting to the rape, but his letters were not acknowledged until after Cole dies and the Innocence Project of Texas took up the case.
Governor Rick Perry posthumously pardoned Cole in 2010 and Texas passed the Tim Cole Act in his honor, which increased compensation given to wrongfully convicted individuals and their families. The Texas legislature also formed the Timothy Cole Advisory Panel on Wrongful Convictions, to make policy recommendations to prevent and rectify wrongful convictions. Now the City of Lubbock is taking responsibility for its involvement in Cole’s conviction and has established a permanent monument in his honor.
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