HOUSTON – The Harris County District Attorney’s Office has dropped criminal charges against a former Houston narcotics officer connected to the botched raid at 7815 Harding Street.
KPRC 2 Investigates confirmed that the office dismissed the felony charge of tampering with a record against Steven Bryant on Wednesday, just one day after he pled guilty to a federal-level charge.
In a statement to KPRC 2 Investigates, the district attorney’s spokesman, Dane Schiller, states that their “work continues to deliver justice in the Harding Street investigation and related matters.”
Schiller adding, “charges were dismissed in state court after the defendant was convicted in federal court,” but provided no further comment.
On Tuesday, the 47-year-old Bryant pled guilty to “Destruction, Alteration or Falsification of Records” in the federal investigation of HPD’s deadly raid from January 2019. Police shot and killed Dennis Tuttle, 59, and his wife Rhogena Nicholas, 58, while serving an unlawful no-knock warrant.
Harding Street raid update: Ex-HPD officer Steven Bryant pleads guilty in federal court
Mike Doyle, attorney for the Nicholas family, says signs started emerging in recent proceedings that Bryant would enter a guilty plea.
“What continues to stand out is the lack of transparency about what happened before, during, and after the raid. The dismissal of state charges against Bryant while blocking these answers needs to stop,” said Doyle.
Following his federal guilty plea, Bryant’s attorneys Andy Drumheller and Derek Hollingsworth said, “Mr. Bryant’s plea reflects his decision to take responsibility for his conduct. He very much regrets what happened.”
Bryant will be sentenced in Federal Court in August.
