[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 159 (2013), Part 11]
[House]
[Page 16106]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                        THE LIFE OF RUBY SESSION

  (Mr. VEASEY asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute.)
  Mr. VEASEY. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize the life of a 
truly remarkable woman, Ruby Session, who passed away earlier this 
month.
  In 1985, Ms. Session's son, Timothy Cole--a veteran, a student at 
Texas Tech University and a Black man--was wrongfully convicted of the 
rape of a woman in Lubbock County and was sentenced to 25 years in 
prison. He died there of an asthma attack while incarcerated. In 2009, 
DNA evidence proved that Tim Cole was wrongfully convicted; and in 2010 
he received the first posthumous pardon in Texas history.
  Ms. Session fought for justice for her son, but throughout all of 
that, she still fought for justice for everyone in the State who had 
been wrongfully convicted. Thanks to her efforts, Texas now has 
additional safeguards to prevent wrongful convictions and to provide 
restitution to former prisoners who have been exonerated of their 
crimes.
  I am honored to have known Ms. Session and to have supported her 
pursuit of justice while I served in the Texas Legislature. Her spirit 
lives on in her reforms and in the many individuals whose lives she has 
touched.

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