Cole's family frustrated by lack of pardon TEXAS//Hope remains despite legislative failure BY ELLIOTT BLACKBURN AVALANCHE-JOURNAL Frustrated family members of Texas’ first posthumous exoneration held out hope that the state could pardon a Fort writ man discovered innocent almost i 10 years after he-died in prison. A proposed constitu- tional amendment giv- ing the governor author- ity to pardon Timothy r,. | Brian Cole became one Cole ofthe myriad casualties of a partisan fight over voter identification legislation. Texas law does not specify whether a person needs to be alive to receive a pardon. The governor’s office cites a brief, 44-year-old attorney general’s opinion that clearly states he may only pardon the living. Without the constitutional amend- ment, Gov. Rick Perry lacks author- ity to offer the pardon, spokeswoman SEE COLE, PAGE Al0COLE: Pardon still important to mother FROM PAGE Al Katherine Cesinger saidin an e-mail response to questions. “Because the measure failed, the governor does not have the constitutional author- ity to grant a posthumous pardon,” Cesinger wrote. That frustrated Cole’s family, who waited almost 25 years for proof that their son and oldest brother did not rape a fellow Texas Tech student in 1985, “Somebody's got to do something,” said Cory Session, Cole’s youngest brother. “This is ridiculous.” An Austin state district court formally exonerated Cole in April, based on DNA evi- dence tested by the Lubbock County District Attorney's Office. But the pardon remains an important symbolic gesture for Ruby Session, Cole’s mother. Perry could include the issue in a special session, or legislators could try again in 2011. To comment on this story: alliott.blackburm@iubbockonline.com @ 766-B722 walt.nett@lubbockonline.com # 766-8706