Time to honor Tim Cole

There will be a new symbol of justice in Texas today.

That’s because a statue of Tim Cole — the Fort Worth man unjustly convicted of rape who died in prison and was exonerated years later — will be unveiled in Lubbock before family, friends and politicians.

It comes 28 years to the day after Cole was convicted.

“It’s awe-inspiring to me,” said Cory Session, Cole’s younger brother. “I hope it gives some people some hope.”

Cole’s relatives never stopped fighting to prove that the former Texas Tech student and Army veteran was wrongly accused.

They fought while he was in prison and they kept fighting after he died in 1999 from an asthma attack, 13 years into his 25-year sentence.

Years after he was buried, the Innocence Project of Texas began looking into the case after Cole’s mother received a letter from another inmate who confessed to the crime.

Cole’s relatives spoke with attorneys, judges, reporters, lawmakers and state leaders. And they worked with the Innocence Project and others to conduct DNA testing to clear Cole’s name.

By 2009, a Travis County judge had cleared Cole of the charges based on DNA results. The next year, Gov. Rick Perry visited Fort Worth and signed a pardon in front of Cole’s family. Two years later, a state historical marker honoring Cole was erected in Mount Olivet Cemetery.

He is the first person posthumously exonerated in Texas.

Now, a full statue showing Cole as a college student — wearing a sweater vest and penny loafers and carrying books — will be formally dedicated not far from Texas Tech University on a slice of land renamed Tim Cole Memorial Park.

The crowd watching the unveiling is expected to include Republican Gov. Rick Perry, GOP gubernatorial candidate and state Attorney General Greg Abbott, Democratic gubernatorial candidate and state Sen. Wendy Davis of Fort Worth, and the two lieutenant governor nominees — state Sens. Leticia Van de Putte, D-San Antonio, and Dan Patrick, R-Houston.

Session said he hopes the statue will send the message that justice has no time limit.

And while he’s sad that his mother, Ruby Cole Session, who died in October, won’t be at the unveiling, he’s glad the day has come.

“It’s bittersweet,” he said. “But it will be a good thing.”

This story was originally published September 16, 2014 at 4:13 PM with the headline "Time to honor Tim Cole."