Why Won’t Houston Police Chief Tell How Indicted Former HPD Officers Gerald Goines and Steven Bryant Are Linked to 1997 Murder Case of Lamar Burks?

HOUSTON, TEXAS, UNITED STATES, July 16, 2020 /EINPresswire.com/ -- State law makers and civil rights leaders sensing something fishy have for months been demanding that Houston police chief Art Acevedo release an internal audit of the department’s narcotics division following a botched raid at 7815 Harding street.

The raid left two residents, Dennis Tuttle and Rhogena Nicholas dead, according to an audit released by Acevedo in a tweet on July 1, 2020 in which auditors revealed 250 cases and reportedly found more than 400 errors.

The information centered on former HPD officer Gerald Goines and his former partner Steven Bryant, both of whom now facing felony charges ranging from felony murder to tampering with a government record. One case that has yet to be reviewed in this same seamy context is the 1997 murder case of Lamar Burks.

Burks, who has already spent 20 years in prison, claims he was framed by rogue officers and now new evidence shows that prior to the 1997 murder he was charged with, former officer Steven Bryant while working undercover made a failed attempt to tie Lamar Burks to a drug transaction involving three kilos of cocaine.

Internal records and trial testimony reveal Bryant traveled with informants to Burks recording studio seeking to purchase drugs, which was unsuccessful when Burks told him he sold music, not dope. See Williams vs State 01\96\00349\CR

The effort to nail Burks did not stop there, for in 1997 Burks opened a night club in Houston’s fifth ward and a man named Derevin Whitaker who had just been released from prison approached Burks for a job at the club. Burks hired Whitaker not knowing Whitaker’s aunt Bonnie was romantically involved with officer Bryant who together with Goines were attempting to build a case against Burks for the murder on June 30, 1997. At the time evidence shows Burks actually was attending his sister’s wedding in Louisiana when Whitaker allegedly shot and killed Earl Perry outside a Houston night club for which Burks was later charged.

Evidence is beginning to surface about Goines and Bryant using their influence to shield Whitaker from the murder charge pinned on Burks, which was initially dismissed in 1998 for lack of evidence. The case was revised a year and a half later after Goines and Bryant turned their informant Whitaker over to DEA agent Chad Scott and Schumacher. Burks was ultimately convicted and sentenced to 70 years on the testimony of informant Whitaker who was the state’s sole witness called to testify at trial while no physical evidence linked Burks to the crime.

The case has received national scrutiny from the NAACP and other civil rights leaders after one of Whitaker’s handlers, former DEA Agent Chad Scott was convicted on federal corruption charges. www.clicktohouston.com\news\localactivistcallsforthereleaseoflamarburks

Eyewitnesses also have come forward fingering Whittaker as the killer
www.clicktohouston.com\news\local\1997murderconvitionunderreviewaftercorruptdeaagentsconvictedofperjury. Burks attorney is currently in talks with the Harris County DA office to drop the case, according to Lamar Burks Legal Defense Fund.

Media contact: Tom Madden 561-702-4999; tmadden@transmediagroup.com

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