Former Houston narcotics police officer Gerald Goines is suspected of framing 69 people with false evidence between 2008 and 2019, according to new information.
Houston District Attorney Kim Ogg revealed the news Wednesday, explaining that Goines, who was charged with murder following a bungled drug raid last year, played a prominent role in all the cases now believed to have been tainted. He was also the sole witness at the trials.
In an interview with KTRK, Ogg explained that Goines targeted low-income African Americans, who he investigated, arrested, and sought charges against.
"People were convicted, they went to jail, they went to prison," Ogg said. "My job is to see that justice is done, and I got to right the wrongs that Goines committed."
The post-conviction cases went under review after two brothers arrested in 2008 on drug charges were declared innocent.
According to Goines, he was surveying Steven and Otis Mallet in Houston while working undercover, when he allegedly saw the brothers buying drugs. Prosecutors said Goines fabricated the entire scenario.
Since then, 400 cases were reviewed and it is believed that 69 of them were false convictions.
"The greater question is whether they were actually innocent, and that's where we need lawyers who represent them, to help flesh out," said Ogg.
In August 2019, Goines was charged with two counts of murder following the deaths of married couple Dennis Tuttle and Rhogena Nicholas, who were killed in the gunfire during the botched raid.
It was later alleged that Goines had lied in the affidavit in order to convince a judge to sign a warrant, ABC News noted. The ex-cop has pleaded not guilty.
Commenting on the DA's new allegations, defense attorney Nicole Deborde, who is representing Goines, called them "carefully timed media blitzes" which were "an end run around the ethical rules that she can't talk about the facts of the actual pending case," according to KTRK.
Deborde added that this was a "transparent political Hail Mary as she approaches the primary deadline."
Ogg retaliated by calling Deborde's claims "shocking."
"It's shocking to me that she would fault us for trying to get relief to 69 more people, who have been likely wrongfully convicted," she said.
Zoe Papadakis ✉
Zoe Papadakis is a Newsmax writer based in South Africa with two decades of experience specializing in media and entertainment. She has been in the news industry as a reporter, writer and editor for newspapers, magazine and websites.
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