AUSTIN, Texas (AP) _ Family members of the first posthumous DNA exoneree in Texas history have met with Gov. Rick Perry about the possibility of a gubernatorial pardon.
Timothy Cole’s mother and brother met with Perry on Wednesday afternoon to make their case for a bill that would allow under special circumstances for the governor to issue a pardon without receiving a recommendation from the Board of Pardons and Paroles.
Cole died in prison in 1999 at age 38 of complications from asthma while serving a sentence for a 1985 rape of a Texas Tech University student in Lubbock. He was wrongly convicted, and a DNA test last year proved his innocence.
A spokeswoman for the governor’s office said Perry and the family had “a good conversation.”