Houston Chronicle by St. John Barned-Smith July 17, 2020
A man who spent seven years in prison after being arrested by Gerald Goines is suing the former Houston police officer.
In a civil rights lawsuit filed Friday, 36-year-old Byron Prophet said he was wrongfully arrested in February 2008 and convicted for a crime he didn’t commit. Prophet is also suing former Houston Police Chief Harold Hurtt and the city of Houston, and filing paperwork seeking to have his conviction overturned, according to his attorney, U.A. Lewis.
“They tried to paint me as the villain,†Prophet said Friday.
Prophet was 23 at the time of the raid. Court paperwork shows Goines and other narcotics officers raided a home on Elmlawn, in Sunnyside, and said they found marijuana, crack cocaine and PCP, along with Prophet’s license. Prophet, however, contends he had no connection to the home they raided, and that Goines approached him while he was standing outside, frisked him, and later claimed he’d found Prophet’s license with the contraband found inside.
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https://www.houstonchronicle.com/news/houston-texas/houston/article/Man-who-says-false-claims-by-Goines-led-to-his-15416258.php
