this case is moving into Randy Webster territory of cover-up / corruptionPinche Abogado said:Kenneth_2003 said:
Anybody else recall the hpd crime lab fiasco years ago? Im driving, can't Google it. It was a mess as i recall. Ultra shoddy to the extreme.
I was in law school at the time. Worked with the attorneys to bring a lot of it to light.
BREAKING: Several Houston police officers shot
79,114 Views |
524 Replies |
Last: 4 yr ago by Righteousgemstone
Props to 8T2 for calling out this warrant as BS two days after the raid. The source of the corruption ended up being the detective, not the CI, but 8T2 pointed out many issues with this warrant way before others. The detective is likely going to wish that losing his job was his biggest worry.8T2 said:
I've read a lot of warrants, and typed a bunch of warrants. That warrant ranks in the bottom 5 of all I have ever read. It may be dead last. And, to think it was written by an employee of the PD of the 4th largest city in the US is stunning.
Tuttle was the owner of the house. This detective couldn't be bothered to even look up HCAD to see who owned the house, look up his DL, show it to the CI in an attempt to ID the seller? Did he search the CI to make sure he did not have heroin on him before he went into the house? HPD can't afford a wire? Hell, I've worked cases where the CI turned on his phone's video recorder and recorded the transaction. Sure, the video didn't catch everything, but at least you could occasionally see the seller.
From reading the warrant, it is clear that they spent longer typing the warrant than investigating the case. 2 weeks? And they couldn't ID the seller? BS. Once that detective gets out of the hospital, he should be fired.
More than likely, this CI is probably some POS trying to work off his own case. There is a huge incentive for these people to set people up to make a case. They usually have to make some multiple of cases to get theirs dismissed. Often, it is something like 10 times the amount of dope they were arrested with. I have had numerous cases dismissed because the evidence from CIs was so weak.
Wow major props. Any link to said warrant? Never read one in my life, but curious how one this bad may read.
BCG Disciple said:IDAGG said:
Yeah I was wrong about this. Looks like the HPD f'ed up big time. The question is: Why in hell did this cop falsify a warrant with a fake buy that never happened? Personal grudge against one of the homeowners? What was to be gained? They need to keep digging. Something is rotten at HPD.
So the lead case agent Goines made up the informant AND they found heroin in his car? Is the implication that he was a user that likely had a deal go bad with the lively couple in the house? Or is the implication that he manipulates the law (falsify reports and plant evidence) to wield his own style of justice when the constitution and law doesn't cooperate with him?
It's becoming pretty obvious that it's the latter with this guy. And he should hang because of it. All his past cases need to be re-examined as well.
Nosh said:ABATTBQ11 said:cbr said:
Almost impossible to recover a lawsuit thanks to sovereign and official immunity, which should be abolished.
But this one looks bad enough that politically they'll volunteer to pay to quiet it down.
I wouldn't say it should be abolished entirely, but I do believe it should not be applicable in the event of malfeasance, dereliction of duty, or gross negligence. I don't want people suing government for everything under the sun for an easy payoff, but I also want a measure of accountability and required professionalism.
ETA At the end of the day, we as taxpayers would be paying to fight or payoff lawsuits against government entities. I would rather them have a barrier to frivolous lawsuits, but also one that is scalable when it can be justified.
Abolish it and and make them personally liable. Watch them cross their t's and do some good old fashioned police work for a change.
The problem is when the same people who "slip and fall" 4 times a year and threaten to sue retailers start doing it in public buildings or the ambulance chasing lawyers start looking at municipalities and the state as bottomless pockets to pull from. They won't care if everything was done correctly, they'll sue anyway because the payoff will be just a little bit less than the cost of winning. The taxpayers will end up fitting the bill.
Ironically, you already CAN sue for that kind of stupid **** under the tort claims act which is a limited waiver of immunity passed in texas. But you CANT sue for criminal levels of deliberate abuse of your rights without an act of god, sacrificing first borns, a full lunar eclipse and a winning lotto ticket all lined up at once.ABATTBQ11 said:Nosh said:ABATTBQ11 said:cbr said:
IAlmost impossible to recover a lawsuit thanks to sovereign and official immunity, which should be abolished.
But this one looks bad enough that politically they'll volunteer to pay to quiet it down.
I wouldn't say it should be abolished entirely, but I do believe it should not be applicable in the event of malfeasance, dereliction of duty, or gross negligence. I don't want people suing government for everything under the sun for an easy payoff, but I also want a measure of accountability and required professionalism.
ETA At the end of the day, we as taxpayers would be paying to fight or payoff lawsuits against government entities. I would rather them have a barrier to frivolous lawsuits, but also one that is scalable when it can be justified.
Abolish it and and make them personally liable. Watch them cross their t's and do some good old fashioned police work for a change.
The problem is when the same people who "slip and fall" 4 times a year and threaten to sue retailers start doing it in public buildings or the ambulance chasing lawyers start looking at municipalities and the state as bottomless pockets to pull from. They won't care if everything was done correctly, they'll sue anyway because the payoff will be just a little bit less than the cost of winning. The taxpayers will end up fitting the bill.
Quote:
Texas's felony murder rule, codified in Texas Penal Code 19.02(b)(3),[1] states that a person commits murder if he "commits or attempts to commit a felony, other than manslaughter, and in the course of and in furtherance of the commission or attempt, or in immediate flight from the commission or attempt, he commits or attempts to commit an act clearly dangerous to human life that causes the death of an individual."
Capital offense
Quote:
Murders more than one person during the same criminal transaction or during different criminal transactions but the murders are committed pursuant to the same scheme or course of conduct
I would think falsifying a warrant for a no knock raid falls under both categories, right?
The now infamous warrant is contained in this article.Mose Schrute said:
Wow major props. Any link to said warrant? Never read one in my life, but curious how one this bad may read.
https://www.chron.com/news/houston-texas/houston/article/HPD-Chief-Art-Acevedo-releases-portion-of-search-13574924.php?utm_campaign=chron_breakingnews_20190130&utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&fbclid=IwAR0oMceLgTme1oZDWdrLd5bvaRRMLNs4uYwwxo3WIH008q8Bd-ow_3ERJnI
https://www.chron.com/news/houston-texas/article/Houston-police-shooting-affidavit-confidential-13620120.php?cmpid=trend
Quote:
An internal Houston police investigation has uncovered alarming deficiencies in the department's narcotics division that led to an allegedly falsified search warrant used to justify a southeast Houston drug raid last month that killed two Pecan Park residents and injured five officers, according to documents obtained Friday by the Houston Chronicle.
In a hastily called press conference, Police Chief Art Acevedo said Gerald Goines, the veteran narcotics case agent at the center of the controversy, will likely face criminal charges. The internal investigation revealed he allegedly lied about using a confidential informant to conduct an undercover buy at the residence on Harding Street. The buy led to a raid and a fatal gunfight at the house the next day, killing Dennis Tuttle, 59, and Rhogena Nicholas, 58, and injuring five Houston Police Department officers.
The debacle, which has infuriated officers across the department and which critics say has damaged public trust in HPD, and infuriated members of the department's rank-and-file, also prompted Acevedo to order an "extensive audit" of the 175-member narcotics division and an examination of Goines' recent cases.
Someone defending their home against an illegal police raid?ttha_aggie_09 said:
The gunman has been put down, according to Mayor Sylvester Turner.
F whoever did this... I hope it was slow and painful
Police absolutely get this stuff wrong sometimes. I read this thread and it reminds me of an incident that happened to me personally about 30 years ago:
I had just graduated from A&M and was living with an Aggie friend in an apartment in the northern portion of the city of Dallas. We were both working for one of the largest CPA firms in the world.....big eight firm.....and we were both about as straight as they come at the age of 23.
One Thursday evening about 7:00pm I'm sitting in the apartment alone watching PBS and there is an aggressive (very hard and unusual) knock at the door. It was a very safe area so I usually just open the door right up, but this knock was so unusual, that I just cracked the door and said "hello." Standing outside the door were about six to eight folks in plain clothes and looking very rough....very long hair, unshaven etc.
The guy in front immediately and in an aggressive manner says: "Dallas police, please open your door! I didn't open the door, but asked to see his badge. He immediately showed me his badge and I immediately opened the door and invited them to come inside. About six of them immediately came in and spread around the room clearly feeling vulnerable and looking for a threat. Two remained outside the front door.
The lead guy....and the only one that talked the whole time then told me that they knew drugs had been being dealt out of my apartment and it would just be best for me if I confessed and told then everything I was up to. Clearly, I should have just said nothing and should have told them to leave, but I was young and dumb. Instead, I just laughed very hard and genuinely and told him to have a seat. I then spent 30 minutes in my living room with the six guys with them telling me about all the evidence they had that I was a major drug dealer. I just kept laughing each time and explaining to them how embarrassingly innocent my roommate and I were. Showed him my company ID, pointed out the fact that he could see I was watching a documentary on PBS when he knocked and on and on.
However, he just kept telling me how much better it would be if I just confessed. And, I just kept laughing in s genuine, "wow, gosh this is kinda neat in my boring life" way. He was relentless and I was clearly amused and enjoying some adventure in the middle of the week. I told him he clearly had bad information, the wrong address and the wrong people. He of course asked all about my room mate.....and I laughed even harder. He looked a little shocked when I told him my roommate was the biggest nerd in the world and was even a virgin. All the while with the other five guys standing around us looking very concerned. And again, they were all in plain clothes and looked pretty thuggish.....especially as compared to me.
Finally, he asked if they could search the place. I then asked him if he had a search warrant. He said he did not have a search warrant. I then told him: "Yes, you can search the entire place on the one condition that you put everything back exactly the way you found it and I mean exactly." He seemed shocked and then said: "okay, I'm not going to search, but we will be back." I laughed, said okay, and jokingly told him to get a hair cut.
Never heard a word about it again. My roommate refused to believe it actually happened.....although when the families get together these days and I tell the story to our Aggie children, I think he's starting to believe.
In hindsight, I was very lucky. Thank goodness they didn't just storm through the door as I would have fought them with every sliver of my being, including pursuing my hand gun. I should not even have let them in without a warrant......but I was young and dumb. But I can definitely say that the police are quite capable of getting this very serious stuff wrong and being ( or pretending to be) adamant that they do not make these sorts of mistakes. Thank goodness they didn't kill me first and then discover their mistake.
I had just graduated from A&M and was living with an Aggie friend in an apartment in the northern portion of the city of Dallas. We were both working for one of the largest CPA firms in the world.....big eight firm.....and we were both about as straight as they come at the age of 23.
One Thursday evening about 7:00pm I'm sitting in the apartment alone watching PBS and there is an aggressive (very hard and unusual) knock at the door. It was a very safe area so I usually just open the door right up, but this knock was so unusual, that I just cracked the door and said "hello." Standing outside the door were about six to eight folks in plain clothes and looking very rough....very long hair, unshaven etc.
The guy in front immediately and in an aggressive manner says: "Dallas police, please open your door! I didn't open the door, but asked to see his badge. He immediately showed me his badge and I immediately opened the door and invited them to come inside. About six of them immediately came in and spread around the room clearly feeling vulnerable and looking for a threat. Two remained outside the front door.
The lead guy....and the only one that talked the whole time then told me that they knew drugs had been being dealt out of my apartment and it would just be best for me if I confessed and told then everything I was up to. Clearly, I should have just said nothing and should have told them to leave, but I was young and dumb. Instead, I just laughed very hard and genuinely and told him to have a seat. I then spent 30 minutes in my living room with the six guys with them telling me about all the evidence they had that I was a major drug dealer. I just kept laughing each time and explaining to them how embarrassingly innocent my roommate and I were. Showed him my company ID, pointed out the fact that he could see I was watching a documentary on PBS when he knocked and on and on.
However, he just kept telling me how much better it would be if I just confessed. And, I just kept laughing in s genuine, "wow, gosh this is kinda neat in my boring life" way. He was relentless and I was clearly amused and enjoying some adventure in the middle of the week. I told him he clearly had bad information, the wrong address and the wrong people. He of course asked all about my room mate.....and I laughed even harder. He looked a little shocked when I told him my roommate was the biggest nerd in the world and was even a virgin. All the while with the other five guys standing around us looking very concerned. And again, they were all in plain clothes and looked pretty thuggish.....especially as compared to me.
Finally, he asked if they could search the place. I then asked him if he had a search warrant. He said he did not have a search warrant. I then told him: "Yes, you can search the entire place on the one condition that you put everything back exactly the way you found it and I mean exactly." He seemed shocked and then said: "okay, I'm not going to search, but we will be back." I laughed, said okay, and jokingly told him to get a hair cut.
Never heard a word about it again. My roommate refused to believe it actually happened.....although when the families get together these days and I tell the story to our Aggie children, I think he's starting to believe.
In hindsight, I was very lucky. Thank goodness they didn't just storm through the door as I would have fought them with every sliver of my being, including pursuing my hand gun. I should not even have let them in without a warrant......but I was young and dumb. But I can definitely say that the police are quite capable of getting this very serious stuff wrong and being ( or pretending to be) adamant that they do not make these sorts of mistakes. Thank goodness they didn't kill me first and then discover their mistake.
Good lord. No surprise this news is not nearly as readily available as "several Houston officers shot". Corrupt system, through and through. Probably has happened 20,000 other times with no shootout. Imagine someone breaks Into your house yelling Police - how many people would grab a gun?
WHY did he do it?
Acevedo will display faux outrage and threaten criminal charges, 2 people are dead and he keeps his job. Welcome to Sly Turner's Houston.
I am part of the problem and you're the victim...
I am part of the problem and you're the victim...
I suspect they are using someone as a scapegoat.
I pray justice is done and that the whole truth comes out.
I pray justice is done and that the whole truth comes out.
bmks270 said:
WHY did he do it?
I would guess stats or asset seizure. If he has information that they at least do drugs - which apparently they did due to the relative's calll, then he's got decent cover for a bogus warrant and planting something if needed.
Him and his band of thugs probably had supplemental income from these. Need a raid about once a quarter to save for kids school.DannyDuberstein said:bmks270 said:
WHY did he do it?
I would guess stats or asset seizure. If he has information that they at least do drugs - which apparently they did due to the relative's calll, then he's got decent cover for a bogus warrant and planting something if needed.
Waiting for Wesag to come back and apologize to those he ridiculed for being suspicious of the intially reported events.
bmks270 said:
WHY did he do it?
1. Lazy
2. He had to hit his quota that supposedly doesn't exist.
3. He's done this before and thought he could get away with it again.
This isn't Sly Turner's Houston. This is HPD's Houston. And, this kind of crap predates Art Acevedo as well. I can remember several cases where I just knew something crooked was going on, but due to numerous factors, including HPD Narcotics' refusal to identify CIs, we just could not piece it together. But, when your 1st degree felony cocaine dealing case suddenly gets dropped to a 3rd degree simple possession with a 5 year deferred probation offer, you can guess the rest.dBoy99 said:
Acevedo will display faux outrage and threaten criminal charges, 2 people are dead and he keeps his job. Welcome to Sly Turner's Houston.
This happens in pretty much every county. The reason the public never hears about it...or doesn't believe the cops are crooked...is because of the smear campaign after the fact. Oftentimes, the innocent civilians are minorities, or have a prior criminal record, or both. Neither of these things change the fact that crooked cops falsified warrants (usually with a CIs help) to justify the raid and boost their arrest numbers. But, it has a huge effect on the public's perception of wrongdoing. And then there is the crooked cops busting real drug dealers. Understandably, no one is upset that the cops broke the law to bust real criminals. But, it is these cases that laid the foundation for the horror show that is the Tuttle killings.
This is why we need a nationwide reassessment of police tactics, and a national discussion about the War On Drugs. The WOD begat the criminal narc culture.
Nail on the head.HTownAg98 said:bmks270 said:
WHY did he do it?
1. Lazy
2. He had to hit his quota that supposedly doesn't exist.
3. He's done this before and thought he could get away with it again.
Good post. I was just pointing out my personal displeasure with Acevedo's hiring and the way Turner runs city hall. Turner is dirty. Acevedo is a left wing SJW, at the very least. Both need to go to Detroit, Chicago, or NYC. They don't belong in Houston.
I am part of the problem and you're the victim...
I am part of the problem and you're the victim...
Goines also has a really bad habit of fabricating evidence. This isn't his first time.
https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&source=web&cd=&ved=2ahUKEwiskIDAssDgAhWoy4MKHTjlCUwQzPwBegQIARAC&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.houstonchronicle.com%2Fnews%2Fhouston-texas%2Fhouston%2Farticle%2FHouston-police-officer-in-drug-raid-had-previous-13621276.php&psig=AOvVaw3YZC4hAmf2DIXGeJTyLlJB&ust=1550411351170776
https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&source=web&cd=&ved=2ahUKEwiskIDAssDgAhWoy4MKHTjlCUwQzPwBegQIARAC&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.houstonchronicle.com%2Fnews%2Fhouston-texas%2Fhouston%2Farticle%2FHouston-police-officer-in-drug-raid-had-previous-13621276.php&psig=AOvVaw3YZC4hAmf2DIXGeJTyLlJB&ust=1550411351170776
HTownAg98 said:
Goines also has a really bad habit of fabricating evidence. This isn't his first time.
https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&source=web&cd=&ved=2ahUKEwiskIDAssDgAhWoy4MKHTjlCUwQzPwBegQIARAC&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.houstonchronicle.com%2Fnews%2Fhouston-texas%2Fhouston%2Farticle%2FHouston-police-officer-in-drug-raid-had-previous-13621276.php&psig=AOvVaw3YZC4hAmf2DIXGeJTyLlJB&ust=1550411351170776
Article says he's killed or shot multiple people. Some while off duty. How does this guy get to keep his badge and not be "asked" to retire????
I am part of the problem and you're the victim...
I wish all the people who wished death upon the real victims on the first page of this thread would come back and defend themselves. I have several friends who are police officers, and I still take pause when I hear about a situation like this.
PaulSimonsGhost said:ttha_aggie_09 said:
The gunman has been put down, according to Mayor Sylvester Turner.
F whoever did this... I hope it was slow and painful
Dead? I hate when the gunmen die. He would have had a very, very ****ty existence from here on out which is as it should be.
Don't
Kill
Cops.
Except when they illegally invade your home.
Good luck with that. Wes is more of a drive-by poster.
dBoy99 said:HTownAg98 said:
Goines also has a really bad habit of fabricating evidence. This isn't his first time.
https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&source=web&cd=&ved=2ahUKEwiskIDAssDgAhWoy4MKHTjlCUwQzPwBegQIARAC&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.houstonchronicle.com%2Fnews%2Fhouston-texas%2Fhouston%2Farticle%2FHouston-police-officer-in-drug-raid-had-previous-13621276.php&psig=AOvVaw3YZC4hAmf2DIXGeJTyLlJB&ust=1550411351170776
Article says he's killed or shot multiple people. Some while off duty. How does this guy get to keep his badge and not be "asked" to retire????
1. The attitude that the police can do no wrong.
1a. Or in the alternative, the good they do far outweighs the bad, so it's excused.
2. Police Unions.
Speaking of Police Unions...
It's time for that Gamaldi blowhard to be tossed out of an airplane without a parachute. But he's too busy still defending these murderers.
It's time for that Gamaldi blowhard to be tossed out of an airplane without a parachute. But he's too busy still defending these murderers.
wbt5845 said:Someone defending their home against an illegal police raid?ttha_aggie_09 said:
The gunman has been put down, according to Mayor Sylvester Turner.
F whoever did this... I hope it was slow and painful
Mark this down as a lesson for me not to rush to judgement... I am sorry for doing so, especially given the facts that are out now.
I teach search warrant writing classes to law enforcement and to some judges. I tell them, especially the judges, that the only difference between a home invasion and a "no knock" search warrant entry is a piece of paper.wbt5845 said:Someone defending their home against an illegal police raid?ttha_aggie_09 said:
The gunman has been put down, according to Mayor Sylvester Turner.
F whoever did this... I hope it was slow and painful
This search warrant affidavit is far from the worst I have seen, but its content does raise some questions. Who knows what the motivation behind the falsity is. The article about Goines being untruthful in a previous case would not open for me, but apparently he has a history of this. Not good for HPD nor the city of Houston.
I don't live anywhere close to Houston, but about once a year I go to Houston to have a search warrant signed and executed on a house in Harris County. I did this again in June, 2018. The district judge I was sent to and who signed the search warrant did not have a clue what a search warrant was. She just wanted to make sure this case was not going to end up in her court. I assured her the case was in another county but we just wanted to run a search warrant on a house in Harris County. She never even looked at the affidavit nor the search warrant itself. But even if she had looked, she would not have known what she was looking at. Harris County has elected some really crappy public servants the last few election cycles.
Appears it was thrown in there so they could get a "no knock" search warrant.AgBQ-00 said:
I saw the same thing...Looks like it was just thrown in there as more "evidence" for the raid...
And the fate of the lying cop---it is known that the new Harris County DA has been wanting a chance to send a cop to prison. So this is delivered to her on a silver platter.
The sympathetic sentiment on the first page was understandable, but this sentiment is not. You cant put even great cops in that position, it crosses a line. And with bad cops, well, you now see where it leads.Ghost91 said:DCPD158 said:justcallmeharry said:
"The officers were reportedly serving a narcotics warrant.
Details are coming in to Eyewitness News, but we are learning two suspects are dead at the scene. Sources say a third suspect is believed to be barricaded inside the house."
https://abc13.com/5-houston-police-officers-shot-2-suspects-killed/5110369/
Blow him up like they did in Dallas.
I have a feeling (and hope) that he "dies from self-inflicted wounds"...... wink wink
An "internal investigation" is not appropriate. If we are ever to know how badly this raid was botched, how many cases Goines poisoned or falsified, and all of the other ills of the HPD, someone else needs to do the investigation. Can the Texas Rangers be called in?
Featured Stories
See All
LIVE: No. 13 Texas A&M at No. 16 Ole Miss
by Luke Evangelist
25:40
10h ago
5.9k
Math is fundamental in Wednesday's high-profile A&M-Ole Miss contest
by Olin Buchanan
29:14
7h ago
1.8k
MarcAg
Elko set to add JMU's Lyle Hemphill to Texas A&M's defensive staff
in Billy Liucci's TexAgs Premium
82
justin0957
Elko set to add JMU's Lyle Hemphill to Texas A&M's defensive staff
in Billy Liucci's TexAgs Premium
69