[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 161 (2015), Part 7]
[House]
[Page 9140]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




               THE TIM COLE EXONERATION REVIEW COMMISSION

  (Mr. VEASEY asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute.)
  Mr. VEASEY. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to applaud the Texas State 
Legislature in passing House Bill 48, establishing the Tim Cole 
Exoneration Review Commission. Tim Cole was wrongfully convicted of 
rape and was the first Texas man to be posthumously cleared by DNA 
testing.
  I know that, oftentimes, when people hear these stories, they think: 
What did he do to get on the police department's radar? Had he done 
something previously in his life that would have made the police 
department suspect him? I can tell you that, in Tim Cole's case, Tim 
was an Army veteran from Fort Worth; he was a Texas Tech student; and 
he honorably served in the military. Sadly, it was just a very bad time 
to be a Black man living in Lubbock, Texas. Tim was sentenced to 25 
years in prison, and he died behind bars without being able to prove 
his innocence.
  I am happy to let you know that this 11-member panel will examine 
wrongful convictions to determine what went wrong and then will make 
recommendations aimed at avoiding in the future the mistakes that were 
made in Tim Cole's case. On June 1, Governor Abbott signed a bill into 
law affirming that all Americans are entitled to due process. Tim 
Cole's family can take some small solace in the knowledge that his 
death has resulted in changes that can provide hope to those who are 
also wrongfully convicted.
  I want to applaud Tim's brother, Cory Session, who has worked 
tirelessly for years to clear his brother's name. I also applaud his 
late mother, Ruby Session, who didn't get to see this bill signed into 
law, but she did get to see some changes made in Texas. I am just happy 
for this family. I am sad that this happened to Tim Cole, but I am glad 
that something positive has taken place.

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