North Texas DA boasts perfect record on felony cases
Posted on 12/14/2002 3:08:45 AM PST by MeekOneGOP
North Texas DA boasts perfect record on felony cases
Legal eagle-eye on the ball
12/14/2002
MONTAGUE, Texas - Tim Cole's first case as a young assistant district attorney wasn't exactly front-page material. Even the result of that Wise County tractor theft case - a conviction and an unusually harsh 45-year prison sentence - probably didn't raise many eyebrows in the legal community.
As it turns out, it should have.
Since that 1991 conviction, the three-term district attorney for rural Montague, Clay and Archer counties has never lost a murder trial. In fact, he has won all of his 100-plus felony cases.
"The first thing I decided when I took office was that you can't be afraid to go to trial," said Mr. Cole, 43, elected as the top prosecutor for the state's 97th District a year after the tractor case. "I went into court and tried a lot of cases."
He has secured convictions in a number of high-profile crimes, including the 1996 murder of a Waurika, Okla., high school cheerleader whose bullet-ridden body was found in a Montague County riverbed. Her three killers are serving life prison terms.
 Tim Cole, the three-term district attorney for rural Montague, Clay and Archer counties, has won all of his 100-plus felony cases. But one of his biggest challenges lies ahead in the case of a former Nocona nurse accused in 20 patient deaths. (AP) |
But what could be the biggest case of his career still lies ahead: a former Nocona General Hospital nurse suspected of killing up to 20 patients, most of them elderly.
Vickie Dawn Carson Jackson has been indicted in connection with four deaths and could be charged with more - depending on whether autopsy results of more patients show traces of the same drug she's accused of injecting in the other four cases. Her trial is set to begin in 2004.
Mr. Cole said his success is the result of a strong competitive streak and a deep sense for justice instilled in him by his preacher father.
"I grew up always knowing what the right thing was and the wrong thing was. It was very clear," he said. "I do look at things in black and white. That's just the way I think things are."
Mr. Cole also credits his record to knowing when to go to trial and intense preparation. In opening and closing statements, he likes to re-create the crime for jurors, describing what victims saw, heard, smelled and felt in their last moments alive.
Some judges and defense attorneys say Mr. Cole is known for his integrity, knowledge of the law, organizational skills and rapport with juries.
"He's not afraid to admit when it's a bad case, and he doesn't boast when he's got a good case," said Bruce Martin, a Wichita Falls attorney. "And he's never lied to me."
Mr. Cole says family, however, is his top priority. He said he has decided not to seek a fourth term in 2004 so he can spend more time at home with his wife and three children, including a son with autism.
Mr. Cole is a self-described country boy. He's the youngest of four children and grew up in Saint Jo, a Montague County community of about 1,100. His father was a Church of Christ preacher, and his parents still run the town's newspaper they bought in the 1970s.
Voted most athletic by his high school senior class of 20 students, Mr. Cole said he cared more about having fun with friends than making good grades.
But he was interested in politics and wanted to further his education, so he went to Cooke County College in Gainesville. He took some time off to work after marrying his high school sweetheart, Betty, at age 19. He earned his undergraduate degree at the University of North Texas in Denton.
He moved his wife and baby daughter to Austin while he attended the University of Texas law school. He wasn't sure what kind of legal career he wanted until his second year, when he got a job with the Texas District and County Attorneys Association.
After graduating, Mr. Cole became the agency's general counsel and stayed two years. But after a brief stint working for Gov. Bill Clements, he was ready to move back home.
He worked as an assistant prosecutor in Wise County before being elected in 1992 as 97th District prosecutor in a rural North Texas area of nearly 55,000 people.
Mr. Cole said the workload at times overwhelms him and his small staff: a legal assistant, an investigator and one part-time assistant district attorney, Jack McGaughey, whom Mr. Cole unseated in the 1992 election.
The Montague-based office has lost only three cases in the last 10 years, including one murder case, in which Mr. Cole was not the prosecutor.
But the record hasn't made him overconfident.
"Any DA or lawyer who guarantees anything is stupid or a liar," he said. "You can't predict what a jury's going to do."
He said he was surprised during last month's trial of Charles William Jordan, who killed an elderly Montague County couple in November 2001.
The death penalty seemed a foregone conclusion.
But jurors indicated during deliberations that they couldn't decide whether Mr. Jordan was guilty of capital murder. Several hours later, Mr. Cole reached a plea agreement with Mr. Jordan, who received a life prison term after pleading guilty to murder.
Citing a judge's gag order, Mr. Cole declined to say if he plans to seek the death penalty in the Nocona hospital trial.
"The hardest job you have is trying to explain to some families why the death penalty is not a suitable option," he said.
Mr. Cole, who likes to keep his job and family separate, is unsure of his plans after leaving office in two years.
He spends what free time he has with his wife of nearly 25 years and their children: Wendy, 22, a college student; Ryan, 12, an avid swimmer; and Bryant, 10, who has autism and participates in Special Olympics.
"I don't like to talk about work outside the office," he said. "My wife doesn't have any idea what cases I'm working on."
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