DA demands Houston police records on confidential informants as fallout from deadly raid

Miya Shay Image
Thursday, June 20, 2019
HPD's narcotics division target of botched raid investigation
HPD's narcotics division target of botched raid investigationABC13's Miya Shay looks into the Harris Co. District Attorney's Office's shifted focus on the entire HPD narcotics division after the Harding Street raid.

HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) -- As the fallout continues from the botched Houston police raid that killed a couple in their own home in January, the district attorney's office is demanding records about all confidential informants dating back for years.

The Harris County District Attorney's Office says their team intends to review "all HPD records related to all confidential informants utilized by officers involved in the Harding Street shooting."

The files requested include the names of informants, locations of buys, payouts to those informants, who approved those payments and who signed off on any operations.

The scope of the request is not limited to just the Harding Street raid, according to the DA's Office, but is related to all confidential informants used by HPD Narcotics Squad 15 from January 1, 2014 to the present.

"This information is crucial to our ongoing review of hundreds of warrants and controlled buys executed by the HPD Narcotics Division and specifically the Goines investigation," a release stated.

Former HPD Officer Gerald Goines is accused of lying on a search warrant that led to the January 28 raid that killed Dennis Tuttle and his wife Rhogena Nicholas.

The district attorney's office promised to issue grand jury subpoenas for the files on Tuesday, June 25 if the records are not turned over.

Late Thursday afternoon, HPD Chief Art Acevedo released a statement in response to the request, insisting that his department has acted cooperatively with the district attorney's office.

CASES LINKED TO GOINES DISMISSED

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