(Editor's Note: The above video was originally published March 4, 2019)
HOUSTON — The Harris County District Attorney’s Office is threatening legal action against the Houston Police Department if it does not turn over legal documents related to a deadly botched raid that killed two people.
In a letter to HPD, assistant district attorney Natasha Sinclair wrote HPD has not turned over records it asked for in May, adding, “Our team must review all HPD records related to all confidential informants utilized by officers involved in the Harding Street shooting.”
Officer Gerald Goines, the officer at the center of the botched raid, is under investigation for lying about a drug buy and confidential informants on a search warrant, according to court documents. The informants later told investigators they never bought drugs from Harding Street.
The letter went on: “Please be advised unless we receive the requested information by close of business Monday, HPD will be served with grand jury subpoenas on Tuesday, June 25, 2019, for the files possessed by the Houston Police Department related to all confidential informants utilized by HPD Narcotics Squad 15 from January 1, 2014, to present.”
The DA’s office is seeking records containing names of informants, locations of buys, payouts to informants, who within HPD approved payments and who signed off on any raids.
Sinclair said it’s been six weeks since the DA’s office requested the information and “we have yet to receive confidential informant information on the specific incident reports requested.”
The DA’s office said it will review more than 2,000 cases linked to officer Gerald Goines who led the deadly raid that killed two people and injured five officers.
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