Houston Narcotics Officer’s Fabricated Testimony Leads to Wrongful Conviction and Exoneration

In February 2008, Houston police raided 5603 Elmlawn Drive, seizing a gram of PCP and 132 grams of cocaine. Narcotics officer Gerald Goines testified that 23-year-old Byron Prophet entered the house twice, unlocked a barred door with a key later found in his pocket, and was seen with a state-issued ID near the drugs. Prophet denied ever being inside the residence, saying he was at his grandmother’s house and later helped his uncle at a nearby garage. A jury accepted Goines’s account, and Prophet was convicted on two drug charges and sentenced to 16 years. He served nearly six years before being released on parole in 2014. After the 2019 raid that exposed Goines’s fabrications, the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals vacated Prophet’s convictions in 2024.

Reason

The lawsuit filed last week alleges that Goines repeatedly fabricated confidential-informant reports, falsified overtime records, and submitted false affidavits to obtain no-knock warrants. The complaint cites dozens of prior arrests—including the 2008 arrest of the Mallet brothers and a 2002 claim against George Floyd—that were later invalidated when Goines’s dishonesty surfaced. Former HPD Chief Harold Hurtt (2004-2009) and other supervisors are accused of ignoring these tactics, allowing a systematic pattern of evidence fabrication and suppression to persist.

Reason

Goines is currently serving a 60-year federal sentence for his role in the 2019 raid that killed Dennis Tuttle and Rhogena Nicholas.

Reason

• The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals identified 69 individuals who might have been convicted on false evidence supplied by Goines.

Reason

• The National Registry of Exonerations lists more than three dozen drug defendants—including Prophet and the Mallet brothers—whose convictions were vacated after Goines’s misconduct was revealed.

Reason

• Goines served 24 years with HPD before his 2019 indictment and now faces a 60-year sentence.

Reason

• “We have zero indication that this is a systemic problem with the Houston Police Department," Police Chief Art Acevedo, who was in charge of the HPD from 2016 to 2021, said after Goines was charged with felony murder in August 2019.” — Police Chief Art Acevedo

Reason