My grandmother used to tell me, "You never know another person's story". The older I get, the more I realize just how right my grandmother was.

Life is full of twists and turns; more often than not, the truth is stranger than fiction ever could be. I posted last week about a man who crashed into the front doors of BSA hospital.

Federal Complaint Details Suspect's Paranoia, Erratic Behavior

I pulled the complaint filed with the Northern District of Texas to get the details--and they're pretty wild. On May 7, 2022 Amarillo Police were called to BSA on reports of a man with a gun in the front lobby.

Upon arrival, officers saw that William Cash Love had driven his vehicle through the front doors, entered the vestibule and fired shots at the glass entrance doors with a 9mm handgun in order to gain entry--where he was promptly detained by security personnel.

Randall County Sheriff's Office
Randall County Sheriff's Office
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All in all, Love was found to have in his possession: bags of money, the 9mm handgun, 385 grams of marijuana, 999 grams of methamphetamine, and 1979 grams of cocaine.

According to the complaint: Love told officers he "had been driving around Amarillo, Texas all night and thought the police were following him" prior to crashing through the hospital doors. He was booked into Randall County Jail on a federal hold for Possession With Intent to Distribute 500 grams or more of Methamphetamine.

Here's The Twist

What's the twist? Get ready for it.

My co-worker was working on a story on the recent Tulia busts, which led to the topic of the infamous 1999 Tulia bust in which 38 people were arrested and charged with drug crimes based on the largely fabricated testimony and "evidence" of a phony undercover officer, Tom Coleman. It was a huge scandal that exposed the racially-charged wrongdoings of high-ranking law enforcement officers and prosecuting attorneys.

During the conversation, my editor began browsing case documents for the 1999 bust and soon came across a name she recognized.

That's right: William Cash Love.

Rightfully Convicted to Wrongfully Convicted to Rightfully Convicted

Love was 25 years old when he was arrested in the Tulia drug bust. He was the lone white defendant. His punishment was set at 434 years in federal prison. His sentence was the harshest out of all other co-defendants, due to prior convictions.

TDCJ; Tulia Defendants, William Cash Love is circled in bottom row (#8)
TDCJ; Tulia Defendants, William Cash Love is circled in bottom row (#8)
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His sentence was vacated by an appeals court in July 2003, meaning that a higher court found that his conviction (which was based on unreliable testimony) was an error of trial court and exonerated him.

Almost all the Tulia bust defendants received a pardon from Governor Rick Perry in 2003 and were released from prison (the exception being two brothers who had been on probation at the time of their arrests).

Tom Coleman was ultimately convicted of aggravated perjury and was publicly rebuked by a judge as engaging in some of the most heinous misconduct seen by the bench in 25 years of practice.

Destiny? Or Institutionalization?

William Cash Love had already accrued a criminal history when he was arrested in 1999. But ever since his exoneration in 2003, he seems to have bounced in and out of the penal system on various charges in several counties. This one will almost certainly net him the rest of his life behind bars.

One would think that the injustice of a wrongful conviction and incredible fortune of exoneration would give a person pause. What was in William Cash Love's cards that led him further down the prison pipeline and away from a better path? Was he bound to crash through the doors of a hospital with his vehicle and gun from the very start? Or was it a byproduct of institutionalization? All are good questions.

You never really know a person's story, do you?

Amarillo's Biggest Drug Busts in 2021.....So Far

Amarillo can be a rowdy place with some lawless characters. Here's some of the biggest drug busts made in Amarillo for 2021 so far....and a little bit of the backstory.

Let's just say that these folks are in t-r-o-u-b-l-e.

Note from editor: An indictment is not a conviction. All individuals shown below who have not appeared in court for a judgement are to be presumed innocent until proven guilty.

Pleased To Be Here: Happiest Mugshots of Randall County

My my my! These are some happy campers.

You'd think having your mugshot taken would be far from one of your finer moments.....but these inmates prove that you can always turn that frown upside down.

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