Thread by @DavidBegnaud

Houston doctor cleared of COVID vaccine theft charge will sue county seeking $1 million +
Dr. Hasan Gokal claims he was discriminated against on the basis of race & national origin.
He insists he did the right thing. He was vindicated when the criminal case against him fell apart

The story of his firing & the subsequent filing of criminal charges gained international attention when it broke, but headlines were not as prominent & glaring when the criminal case that the District Attorney @kimoggforda brought against Gokal collapsed. cbsnews.com/news/hasan-gok…

The lawsuit will seek damages based on what Gokal claims is "mental anguish, economic loss & loss of reputation." Gokal told me he first learned Ogg had charged him with theft by a public servant while watching local news. Her office never interviewed him.
cbsnews.com/news/hasan-gok…

Dr. Gokal says his H.R. Director accused him of taking vaccines and giving it to friends and family. "I said look, you guys were going to throw these away, but I found people to give them away to," Dr. Gokal says he told the H.R. Director.

Gokal said the human resource director said: "Well, the other part of it is you didn't do it in an equitable manner."
Gokal says he replied: "Are you suggesting that there were too many Indian names in the group?' And he points his fingers and he goes, 'Exactly,'" Gokal recalled.

The Investigation Report from the district attorney's office reported that the HR director said that the patient forms they had identified were "individuals of the same nationality as Dr. Gokal," so it looked like the forms belonged to "friends & family."
cbsnews.com/news/hasan-gok…

Two weeks after Gokal was fired, the district attorney put out a press release claiming that Gokal "abused his position to place his friends and family in line in front of people" and that he "disregarded county protocols…

But five days later, Assistant District Attorney Kimberly Smith told Gokal's lawyer, in an email, that there were "not any written protocols at that time" nor was there a "waitlist." cbsnews.com/news/hasan-gok…

Harris County Judge Franklin Bynum reviewed the district attorney's case against Gokal, and he ruled that there was no probable cause to charge the doctor, adding: the D.A.’s office did not prove theft and the case presented to the judge was “pretty incomplete and pretty sloppy.”

I received the following statement from D.A. @kimoggforda, sent by her spokesperson: "The District Attorney's Office prosecutes state crimes that occur in Harris County.  In pursuing prosecution against all accused, our intent is to seek and obtain justice in every case…”

“…We follow a strict protocol of evidence-based prosecution. The criminal charges of Theft by a Public Servant against this Defendant were based upon evidence obtained from witnesses and statements of the accused, both before and after his employment was terminated…”

“…by the Harris County Health Dept.
While grand jury witnesses are also prohibited in Texas from revealing what occurred in the grand jury, they are free to tell you about what they witnessed in an incident…”

cbsnews.com/news/hasan-gok…

“…After charges were filed, a magistrate found probable cause to believe a crime had been committed.  Once the case was assigned to a Trial Court, Judge Franklin Bynum failed to find probable cause…”

cbsnews.com/news/hasan-gok…

“…Because of the disagreement between the judges, the witnesses and all evidence was presented to a grand jury of ordinary citizens who did not indict.  This is standard operating procedure in such situations…”cbsnews.com/news/hasan-gok…

“…In this case, the grand jury declined to indict.  We respect their decision.  This case evidences our system is fair and works."

Kim Ogg
Harris County, Texas District Attorney

cbsnews.com/news/hasan-gok…