Two felony indictments against the Houston Police Department officer who led the deadly 2019 Harding Street drug raid have been quashed, according to the office of 482nd District Court Judge Veronica Nelson.
The defense attorneys filed a motion asking the Harris County judge to drop the indictments against Gerald Goines, arguing they lacked specific details regarding the laws he violated that resulted in the felony murder charges. The motion pointed out that although the indictment mentioned a charge of tampering with a government record, it did not specify which of the six tampering statute subsections Goines was accused of violating.
“The judge considered the constitutional law and legal arguments from both sides in this case and decided that the charges or the indictments, both indictments for felony murder were constitutionally defective and so she quashed them which is a legal word for throwing them out,” Goines attorney Nicole DeBorde said in an interview with KPRC 2 Mario Diaz. “Now we wait for the state to determine how they want to proceed, they have choices. They can either appeal the judge’s ruling or decide whether or not they want to press forward by trying to present the cases to a new grand jury.”
The Harris County District Attorney’s Office released the following statement:
“Today’s actions were no more than another delay tactic by the defense. The Harris County District Attorney’s Office is shocked and tremendously disappointed that a judge would choose to revisit this issue, knowing that her predecessor had already ruled the defendant’s position meritless. The office is considering all its options, including amending the indictment, with an eye towards trying this case as soon as possible to ensure justice for the victims of these crimes.”
In 2019, The Harris County District Attorney’s Office charged Goines with murder after Houston Police Department investigators determined the drug rain that killed homeowners Dennis Tuttle and Rhogena Nicholas was based on lies and a bogus warrant created by Goines.
Goines also faces charges by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District but has yet to be tried by a judge or jury at the state or federal level.
This turn of events could delay Goines’ trial date further.
The attorney representing the families of Dennis Tuttle and Rhogena Nicholas released the following statement:
“Justice in the HPD Harding Street killings remains a far-off prospect, at least in the hands of the US Attorney and District Attorney offices. The family of Rhogena Nicholas remains disappointed that local, state, and federal authorities have either ignored this injustice or helped delay the Goines murder prosecution. The legal explanations aside, we’re now in a sixth year of a taxpayer-funded coverup of these murders. The Nicholas family still will not give up its ongoing fight to reveal the truth of what happened before, during and after the killing of Rhogena.”