Retired Houston officer gets 60 years in a couple’s drug raid deaths
Posted/updated on: October 9, 2024 at 4:53 amHOUSTON (AP) â A former Houston police officer was sentenced to 60 years in prison on Tuesday for the murder of a married couple during a drug raid that revealed systemic corruption in the departmentâs narcotics unit and prompted criticism of the law enforcement agency and its tactics.
Gerald Goines was convicted in the January 2019 deaths of Dennis Tuttle, 59, and Rhogena Nicholas, 58. The couple were shot along with their dog after officers burst into their home using a âno-knockâ warrant that didnât require them to announce themselves before entering.
Prosecutors said Goines lied to get the search warrant approved and that his actions were part of a pattern of wrongful drug arrests and convictions of innocent individuals during his 34-year law enforcement career.
âGerald Goines has been a stain on the reputation of every honest cop in our community, a community that he terrorized through corruption worthy of the movie âTraining Day,ââ said Harris County District Attorney Kim Ogg.
Goines, 60, looked down but had no visible reaction as he heard the sentences for each count of murder, which will run concurrently. The jury, which had deliberated for more than 10 hours over two days on his sentence, also fined him $20,000. Legal experts have said it is rare for a police officer to be charged and convicted for an on-duty killing.
Goines didnât make eye contact when Ryan Tuttle sat on the witness stand after the sentencing, with a framed photograph of his father and stepmother, and said his family was still waiting for answers from the ex-officer about why he targeted the couple. Goines, who did not testify during the monthlong trial, remained silent.
âMy father and my stepmother were not involved in any drug dealing. They were good people. They did not deserve this,â Ryan Tuttle said, and then stared at Goines as he walked away.
During closing arguments in the trialâs punishment phase, prosecutors had asked for a life sentence. Goinesâ attorneys had asked for the minimum sentence of five years, saying Goines had dedicated his life to keeping drugs off the streets.
âWe still donât believe legally that he is guilty of the crime of felony murder and we look forward to having the appellate courts review this,â Nicole DeBorde, one of Goinesâ attorneys, told reporters after the sentence was read.
Goines had been free on bond since he was charged, but he was taken into custody following his conviction last month by the same jury.
Prosecutors said Goines falsely claimed an informant had bought heroin at the coupleâs home from a man with a gun, setting up the violent confrontation in which the couple was killed and four officers, including Goines, were shot and wounded, and a fifth was injured. A Texas Ranger who investigated the raid testified that the officers fired first, killing the dog and likely provoking Tuttleâs gunfire.
His lawyers acknowledged he lied to get the search warrant, but sought to diminish the impact. Two witnesses â a fellow officer and the judge who signed the warrant â said the raid never would have happened if Goines had told the truth.
Investigators later found only small amounts of marijuana and cocaine in the house, and while Houstonâs police chief at the time, Art Acevedo, initially praised Goines as being âtough as nails,â he later suspended him when the lies emerged. Goines later retired as the probes continued.
The probe into the drug raid uncovered allegations of much wider corruption. Goines was among a dozen officers tied to the narcotics squad who were later indicted on other charges. A judge dismissed charges against some of them, but a review of thousands of cases involving the unit led prosecutors to dismiss many cases, and the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals has overturned at least 22 convictions linked to Goines.
Ryan Tuttle said he hoped the deaths of his father and stepmother would spur police reform not just in Houston but around the country.
âIf itâs happening in Houston, itâs happening everywhere,â Tuttle said. âWe have to make sure this stops.â
Ogg said the police department reviewed various policies after the raid but that a thorough revamping of narcotics enforcement by the agency has yet to happen.
An audit of the narcotics unit done after the raid found officers made hundreds of errors in cases, often werenât thorough in their investigations and lacked supervision.
In a brief statement after the juryâs sentence, Houston police said, âWe respect the juryâs decision in the trial involving Gerald Goines and thank the jurors for their time and service.â
âThis is not an indictment against police officers. There are 99% upstanding police officers. This was also about sending a message to them, that we believe in them, we support them. What we donât support is corruption,â said prosecutor Tanisha Manning.
Goines also made a drug arrest in 2004 in Houston of George Floyd, whose 2020 death at the hands of a Minnesota police officer sparked a nationwide reckoning on racism in policing. A Texas board in 2022 declined a request that Floyd be granted a posthumous pardon for that drug conviction.
Goines also faces federal criminal charges in connection with the raid, and federal civil rights lawsuits filed by the families of Tuttle and Nicholas against Goines, 12 other officers and the city of Houston are set to be tried in November.