HOUSTON, Texas – In a few days, the downtown Houston courthouse will become the epicenter of one of the city’s most anticipated trials.
The case of former Houston Police narcotics officer Gerald Goines, who faces charges in the shooting deaths of Dennis Tuttle and Rhogena Nicholas, is set to unfold.
The tragic incident that led to this trial began in January 2019, when a botched drug raid ended with the deaths of the homeowners, Dennis Tuttle and Rhogena Nicholas. Goines, along with other HPD narcotics officers burst into the couple’s home unannounced through a no-knock warrant. Authorities later claimed Goines fabricated the warrant, leading to a cascade of questions and scrutiny surrounding the case.
As the trial approaches, KPRC 2 Investigates Reporter Mario Diaz continues to dive into the complexities of the case. He spoke with former prosecutors to explore whether there might be a viable pathway for a not-guilty verdict, and if so, what that might look like.
“It’s a very difficult pathway to end in a not guilty,” said Angela Weltin, a criminal defense attorney. “However, there is a way, at least with what he is charged with at trial, which is murder.”
In 2019, Goines was first charged with murder. The felony indictment accused him of tampering with a government record, which led to the no-knock warrant at the Harding Street home and a shootout between the couple and police.
According to police, Goines admitted that the information he used to obtain the warrant was false, and also, the information he claimed to have gotten from confidential information about the couple selling heroin from the home was false.
Earlier this year, in March, a judge decided to throw out the two murder indictments. Goines’s defense attorneys argued that the indictments did not specify which law their client violated in connection with the felony murder indictments. While the indictments did mention the tampering with evidence charge, it did not specify which of the six tampering subsections he may have violated.
“If I’m the defense, I’m going to argue that prior to this case, the Houston Police Department was using no-knock search warrants regularly. If they were something that was so clearly dangerous to human life, why were they used so often? It will be difficult for the prosecutors to prove that a no-knock search warrant is inherently dangerous, said criminal defense attorney Casey Gonzalez.
After the shooting, changes were made to how HPD executed no-knock warrants.
A week later, Goines was re-indicted of the murder charges by a Grand Jury.
“If they can establish that Goines’ actions were not in furtherance of the crime, and that there was nothing inherently dangerous about his actions, that would be a strong point in their favor. The defense will argue that Goines was acting within the authority given to him regarding the search warrant. They’ll also focus on proving that he did not intend to cause serious harm,” said Erin Epley, also a criminal defense attorney.