Authorities announce Houston officer case review, FBI probe

HOUSTON — Prosecutors will review more than 1,400 criminal cases that involved a Houston officer who the police chief has accused of lying in an affidavit justifying a drug raid on a home in which officers shot and killed two residents, authorities said Wednesday.

The FBI also announced that it is opening an investigation to determine whether any civil rights were violated as a result of the raid and shooting last month.

Houston Police Chief Art Acevedo said at a news conference that he welcomed the FBI investigation “in the spirit of transparency.”

Harris County District Attorney Kim Ogg said her office’s review will look at cases spanning decades that involved Officer Gerald Goines, a 30-year department veteran. Twenty-seven of those cases are active.

“Although the criminal investigation of Officer Goines is ongoing, we have an immediate ethical obligation to notify defendants and their lawyers in Goines’ other cases to give them an opportunity to independently review any potential defenses,” Ogg said in a statement.

Goines was one of the four officers who were shot in a gunfight that killed 59-year-old Dennis Tuttle and 58-year-old Rhogena Nicholas, who both lived in the home where the raid occurred on Jan. 28. A fifth officer injured his knee during the shooting.

Police investigators now allege that Goines, who’s been suspended, lied in the search warrant affidavit, saying a confidential informant had bought heroin at the home.

But the informant told investigators no such drug buy ever took place.

Goines’ attorney, Nicole DeBorde, said Wednesday that Ogg’s review is necessary.