Texas attorney gave voice to voiceless

Jeff Blackburn, an esteemed Texas attorney and prolific criminal justice reformer, died Tuesday at the age of 65.

Blackburn was a resident of Taos in New Mexico, best known for his criminal defense work in Amarillo and across Texas.

Blackburn founded the Innocence Project of Texas, spearheaded criminal justice reform efforts and fought on behalf of wrongfully convicted people across the state.

Blackburn was diagnosed with cancer in 2022, and he had been planning his funeral for the past few months, longtime friend Cory Session said.

“(Blackburn) sent us a group email that was as long as one of his legal briefs,” Session said with a chuckle.

In the email, Blackburn noted the two accomplishments he was most proud of as an attorney. The case of Session’s brother — who was from Fort Worth — made the short list.

Session’s brother, Timothy Cole, had been wrongfully convicted on rape charges in 1985.

Cole was convicted in Lubbock despite inadequate evidence and an alibi for the night of the sexual assault. Cole, a Texas Tech student and Army veteran, died in prison from an asthma attack in 1999.

He had been in prison for 13 years.

After Cole’s death, Session’s family fought for Cole’s name to be cleared for years. But it wasn’t until Session called Blackburn in 2007 that the wheels of justice were forced to turn.

With Blackburn’s persistence and legal efforts clearing the way, DNA evidence proved Cole’s innocence in 2008. In 2010, then-Gov. Rick Perry formally signed a pardon for Cole — the first and only posthumous pardon in Texas history.

“We are indebted to Jeff for clearing my brother’s name,” Session said.

In 2009, the Texas Legislature passed the Timothy Cole Act, which gives exonerees $80,000 for each year of wrongful imprisonment plus a monthly annuity payment. As of 2017, 59 exonerees had received lump sum payments totaling $68 million.

State lawmakers also created the Timothy Cole Advisory Panel on Wrongful Convictions to study wrongful convictions and recommend how to prevent them, and they passed more legislation, including a package of bills ensuring the timely testing of DNA evidence and overhauling eyewitness practices by law enforcers.

Impact across Texas

Blackburn did not stop at clearing Cole’s name — he pushed for legislation and policy reform to help others who had been wrongfully convicted. In 2006, he helped found the Innocence Project of Texas, which has contributed to the release and exoneration of 26 wrongfully convicted Texans.

In 2011, as funds for the Innocence Project of Texas depleted, Blackburn donated $100,000 from his own pocket to keep it open, Session said. He persistently worked “for the benefit of the poor, the defenseless, the voiceless.”

In a statement, the Innocence Project of Texas said Blackburn “was a visionary leader and tireless advocate for wrongfully convicted Texans, and his work will long be remembered by those whose lives he touched.”

Blackburn’s other notable accomplishments could each be a story on their own. In 2001, he took on the case of a massive drug bust in Tulia, Texas. Over several years, he helped prove the bust was a sham and helped 38 people be exonerated — the largest mass pardon in U.S. history.

Blackburn continued fighting for others as a lawyer in Amarillo. In 2016, his firm sued the city of Amarillo for jailing people who did not pay municipal fines. He advocated for a statewide system for public defender offices, arguing Texas must invest in indigent services in order to ensure fair representation for all people.

He recently founded a civil rights nonprofit in New Mexico called the Rio Grande Regional Justice Project, according to the Houston Chronicle.

Session, who was the vice president of the Innocence Project of Texas for six years until his term ended in December, said he and Blackburn maintained a close friendship throughout the years. Blackburn never stopped raising awareness that “equal justice under the law doesn’t happen for everybody.”

“There are so many ripple effects because of Jeff Blackburn,” Session said. “Jeff Blackburn’s DNA is around this state and this nation.”