Court filing reveals motive for Goforth murder

HOUSTON (FOX 26) - A Harris County grand jury has now indicted accused killer Shannon Miles of capital murder, following the August 28th murder of Deputy Darren Goforth at a gas station.

They filed the document Monday morning, and in it, the prosecution reveals what they believe is the motive -- that Miles killed Goforth purely because he was a police officer.

The document brings up two separate issues.

Fox 26 legal analyst Chris Tritico said the document establishes the deputy as being on official duty.

Miles' defense has said they will try to show Goforth as being present at the gas station for his mistress, and therefore not on official duty, to try and knock the charge down from capital murder to murder.

The document also presents retaliation against Goforth as Miles’ probable motive.

“The significance here is that they’ve now given two ways to convict him of capital murder. Either Deputy Goforth is acting as a peace officer when he was killed or Mr. Miles shot him simply because he was a peace officer,” said Tritico.

The Harris County D.A.’s Office told FOX 26 the grand jury reviewed the evidence behind closed doors, so it's unclear how much the mistress’ role contributed to the motive, but officials did say that the evidence led the jury to this specific reason of retaliation.

Miles is currently being held without bond.