Harris County District Attorney's office reviewing cases involving HPD officer fired in racist rant

HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) -- A Houston police officer is off the job after a racist tirade went viral on social media, but the fallout goes far beyond her suspension.

The question on the community's mind now is: Did former Houston Police Department officer Ashley Gonzalez bring those feelings into the cases she handled on the street?

ORIGINAL REPORT: HPD officer fired following investigation into video of racist remarks on Instagram profile

The Harris County District Attorney's Office promised a full review, but it's what prosecutors claim they found, or rather, didn't find, that made 13 Investigates start digging.

Whether they already saw Houston police officer Ashley Gonzalez's now viral racist rant or watched it for the first time when we showed it to them, everyone Eyewitness News spoke with said it has created mistrust.

"Surprising for an officer of the law, protector, to go on a rant like that about things like that publicly," Houstonian Michael Senegal said.

Houstonian Andrea Jackson said she also already knew about the video.

"That means that her word can't be trusted because she already publicly said she's biased," Jackson said.

Houstonian Nathan Martinez said he saw the video for the first time when we showed it to him.

"She's an officer? It doesn't look like she's a police officer," Martinez said.

13 Investigates wanted to know more about what happened before and after Gonzalez posted the video on social media, so we dug in and learned it started with a downtown theft.

13 Investigates obtained surveillance video of the theft that occurred near Gonzalez while she was at a restaurant. The video shows a man walking past her table, snatching something, and running.

A copy of that police report confirms that a wallet was stolen, but it's what Gonzalez did afterward that upended her career.

According to her indefinite suspension letter, Gonzalez posted a screenshot of that surveillance video to Instagram, captioned with racial slurs.

She also filmed a series of expletive-laced videos, where she repeatedly used racial slurs and made what HPD called a "threatening statement."

"Let me get an (expletive) Black person on a 911 call tomorrow, especially, (expletive) you're going to (expletive) jail," Gonzalez said in the video.

Jackson, responding to the video, said, "I just think this is really unfortunate that people get in these positions with these types of feelings. There are other jobs."

The videos traveled fast.

A member of the Chicago Police Department, who says she went to Marine Corps boot camp with Gonzalez, spotted the posts and flagged HPD the same day.

13 Investigates got a copy of the emails the officer sent to HPD's Community Engagement Unit on the night of April 18. The emails included recordings of Gonzalez's posts.

The Chicago officer told HPD that she and her fellow platoonmates were "completely upset about her online behavior" and that it should be taken seriously.

HPD emailed the Chicago officer on Monday, telling her that if she wanted to file a formal complaint, she could complete a form, have it notarized, and mail it to the department. That same day, the Chicago officer spoke with a sergeant at HPD about her concerns, and by April 24, Gonzalez's two-year employment with HPD was suspended indefinitely.

Meanwhile, word of the videos also traveled like "wildfire" through the defense attorney community, according to Joe Vinas, former president of the Harris County Criminal Lawyers Association.

"As defense attorneys, we kind of have a two-fold response, which is, 'Oh, that's terrible.' And then, 'oh, I hope she's on my case because I'm going to have a field day with this now,'" Vinas said.

He expected the District Attorney's office to flag every case Gonzalez ever touched, alerting defense attorneys to check for any bias.

Publicly, the DA's office promised exactly that.

They issued a statement claiming they had already begun a "thorough, analytical process of reviewing every case" involving Gonzalez, citing their ethical obligation to issue these warnings, known as Brady notices.

In her suspension letter, HPD said she violated the "Brady/Michael Morton Act" listed in the department's general orders.

13 Investigates asked Vinas how involved an officer would need to be in a case or at a scene for a Brady notice to be issued.

"It can be anybody, and the general rule of thumb with a prosecutor is you err on the side of caution," Vinas said.

But a month later, when 13 Investigates followed up, a spokesperson for the DA's office claimed they didn't find a single pending or resolved case associated with Gonzalez, so no Brady notices were sent.

"They're saying there's nothing, which just doesn't sound right," Vinas said.

It doesn't sound right considering she was on the force for two years, so 13 Investigates dug into court documents filed with the district clerk.

On our own, we found 10 cases mentioning Gonzalez; two are still active.

The law requires Brady notices to be filed in all cases, regardless of their status.

"This is not just some technicality, you know, some officer got suspended because their boots weren't shiny enough. I mean, this is a huge deal," Vinas said.

We sent the District Attorney's Office a list of cases we found, and they now tell us that their conviction integrity office is working through Gonzalez's cases and will notify defendants.

They tell us it's a process and they are being thorough.

To be clear, a Brady notice doesn't automatically mean a case is tainted. It just flags the defense to see if there were any discrepancies, but it can lead to major reversals.

13 Investigates asked Gonzalez's attorney if he or his client had a response to the videos and whether her opinions affected any of her cases.

He said they wouldn't comment and that he was only representing her in her civil appeal to get her job back.

We could not reach Gonzalez herself.

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