Question: Who was the first person to receive a posthumous pardon in Texas?
Answer: Tim Cole, a U.S. Army veteran and Texas Tech University student wrongfully convicted of raping a fellow student in 1985. He died at the age of 39 after a 14-year imprisonment. Following his death, another man confessed to the rape, and DNA evidence cleared Cole of the crime. In 2009, a Texas district court judge reversed Cole’s conviction and ordered his record expunged. The posthumous exoneration was the first achieved through DNA evidence in Texas and the United States.
The same year, the Texas Legislature passed a law that provides payments to wrongfully convicted prisoners. In 2010, Gov. Rick Perry granted Cole the state’s first posthumous pardon. A historical marker was installed at Cole’s grave in 2012, and Texas Tech awarded him an honorary degree in 2015.
