Timothy Brian Cole, a young African-American veteran and student at Texas Tech University in Lubbock, TX, was wrongfully convicted in 1986 of a brutal rape that he did not commit. While serving a 25-year sentence, he died in prison in 1999, at age 39.
After Tim's death, DNA evidence proved his innocence. Extraordinary legal measures were then brought to bear, and finally, he was totally vindicated, exonerated, and pardoned.
Thereafter, the Tim Cole Case--the most egregious miscarriage of justice in modern Texas history--prompted massive changes in the legal system of that state, specifically with landmark compensation packages to exonerees, and the methodology of eyewitness identification, along with DNA analysis and testing.
This honor will put the wrongly convicted in the forefront.