HOUSTON – A bombshell development emerged at the start of the third day of the murder trial involving former Houston Police Department narcotics officer Gerald Goines.
Goines is charged with felony tampering with a government document and the murder of homeowners Dennis Tuttle and Rhogena Nicholas in a deadly botched raid by HPD in January 2019. His trial is the focus of KPRC 2′s The Bench, a multiplatform experience to bring you closer to the case.
On Wednesday morning, the defense team requested that the full body camera video from HPD Officer Valeriano Rios be played, following the prosecutor’s decision to show only a few minutes of it on Tuesday afternoon. The nearly 45-minute video was presented to the jury during Officer Rios’ cross-examination by defense attorney George Secrest.
The video not only captures the deadly Harding Street raid from outside the home, but also the chaotic aftermath as it played out in real time.
The defense questioned Rios throughout the video until it abruptly ended just seconds after former HPD Police Chief Art Acevedo was seen and heard ordering Rios to turn off his camera. Rios testified that he followed Chief Acevedo’s orders, even as the active scene continued to unfold for several more hours.
KPRC 2 Investigates spoke with a law enforcement officer who was present at the scene that night to get their reaction to Chief Acevedo’s directive to turn off a body camera while it was recording the immediate aftermath of the raid.
“I question Chief Acevedo’s motives for telling an officer to turn off his body cam shortly after such a significant incident. With his history of refusing to wear a body cam himself, I find it highly suspicious why he took such action. What purpose did that serve? Certainly doesn’t look very transparent,” said the law enforcement source.
We then took our questions to The Bench’s legal analysts who are working with us during this trial.
“Former Chief Acevedo should have to answer to the jury and to all of Houston as to why he ordered body camera recording to be turned off in the wake of the botched raid,” said Angela Weltin.
Casey Gonzalez adds, “It is not uncommon for officers who are on extended scenes to turn off their body cam footage as long as they are not having interactions with civilians or witnesses. However, I find it incredibly concerning that officers were being instructed to turn off their body camera footage in the aftermath of such a tragic event when the investigation was clearly still ongoing and unfolding.”
“This new revelation supports the notion that HPD - at the highest level - suspected something was suspicious with this raid. This flies in the face of the narrative they repeated for months after the shooting occurred,” said Joe Vinas.
“I’ve watched longer body worn camera videos for a four-minute aggravated robbery. Body worn cameras run as long as witnesses (here, including officers) are being questioned about the events. If HPD was still in the throes of chaos, turning off those cameras seems inconsistent with policy & common practice, inappropriate, and potentially self-serving,” said Erin Epley.
And, Rick Detoto’ adds, “When you have the chief of police directing an officer in a high-profile shooting involving police officers, Houston, you have a problem. It makes you wonder what was going on within the Houston Police Department, what Acevedo’s policies were, and it looks like a cover-up, it’s as simple as it gets.”
The Bench returns on Thursday with more witnesses from the prosecution as they try to prove their case against Gerald Goines.