leglaized theft – Techdirt (original) (raw)

Stories filed under: "leglaized theft"

Houston PD Drops Cases Tainted By Corrupt Narcotics Officers, But Decides It Can Still Keep Seized Cash

from the HPD:-this-cash-did-nothing-wrong dept

In 2019, Houston police officers — relying on information generated by narcotic squad office Gerald Goines (who is now facing multiple criminal charges) — raided the home of Rhogena Nicholas and Dennis Tuttle. Both occupants of the home were killed during the raid — one predicated on lies from Officer Goines. The fallout resulted in the suspension of the drug unit Goines worked for, as well as the indictment of 11 more officers from the PD’s narcotics unit.

In response to this exposure of corruption and rights violations, the DA’s office opened up a review of the 1,400 cases Goines was linked to. This soon expanded to other cases involving the Houston PD’s narcotics unit — a unit that had apparently been allowed to go rogue under the theory that the ends will ultimately justify the means.

Convictions and cases have been dropped. But, as the Houston Chronicle reports, that doesn’t mean the Houston PD is willing to return property (read: cash) seized during possibly bogus raids and arrests. (h/t Jacob Sullum of Reason)

Following the Harding Street raid prosecutors have dismissed more than two dozen of Goines’s still-active cases and identified about 70 past convictions dependent on his testimony alone. At least five of those have been overturned because of evidence he lied.

But with property confiscated by Goines and his team, “Prosecutors are currently reviewing several cases related to Squad 15 to determine if they involve assets that should be returned to members of the community,” said Dane Schiller, spokesman for the Harris County District Attorney’s Office.

Oh, so the property did nothing wrong? Is that the theory? Because the officers obviously did something wrong. Repeatedly. But the cash is somehow untainted, even if those who seized it are? This is some extremely convenient rationalizing by the DA’s office, which feels cops should be punished, but victims of bad cops should perhaps lose their property forever.

That would include Houston resident Andrew Hebert, who had $11,000 seized from him by officer Gerald Goines. As the Houston Chronicle notes, Herbert’s criminal charges have been tossed. But the Houston PD has yet to return the “evidence” of now nonexistent criminal activity. The DA’s office has officially said (in a letter to Hebert’s lawyer) that things are too fucked to continue prosecuting the case. Nevertheless, the DA’s office has apparently decided the money is still too guilty to cut loose.

Cognitive dissonance is the official stance of Houston prosecutors.

The records show Harris County retained nearly $75,000, as well as several vehicles from the operations even as it has determined many of the criminal charges stemming from the raids were too problematic to pursue.

The confiscations represent only a small slice of the money seized over the years by officers now suspected of dishonest policing. The records are based on five years of case logs from the district attorney’s office — the period the agency retains the records. The tainted Squad 15 members were relieved of duty in early 2019, leaving only about two years of records available for inspection.

A dearth of records makes it impossible to tell how much property the DA’s office and Houston PD has retained from tainted cases. And the lack of valid criminal charges really doesn’t matter much. The DA’s office can still pursue civil asset forfeiture — something that doesn’t require a conviction to convert citizens’ property into government windfall. Overall, the Houston PD seizes $3-4 million in cash every year. Most of this is retained by the PD, shared with the DA’s office, and spent at will by the department since it’s not subject to city oversight.

The Houston Chronicle did manage to track down five cases where the DA’s office returned seized property to defendants in cases involving Houston’s disgraced drug squad. But there’s a common denominator — an option that isn’t available to everyone victimized by corrupt Houston cops.

Records show some or all of the money confiscated during the busts was returned in five cases — typically after defendants hired lawyers to challenge the forfeitures.

This is severely screwed up. The DA’s office is supposed to serve justice, not its own ends. It has publicly stated its dismay at the narcotic squad’s actions and pursued criminal charges against officers. But when it comes to cash taken from people abused by police officers, the DA’s office is extremely reluctant to return any of its ill-gotten windfall to the people it claims to serve.

Filed Under: civil asset forfeiture, houston, houston pd, leglaized theft