Former Houston officer gets 60 years in prison for drug raid deaths of couple

HOUSTON (AP) — A former Houston police officer was sentenced to 60 years in prison Tuesday for killing a married couple during a drug raid that exposed systemic corruption in the department’s drug division.

Gerald Goines, 60, was convicted in January 2019 in the deaths of Dennis Tuttle, 59, and Rhogena Nicholas, 58, who were shot along with their dog after officers entered their home with a “no-knock” warrant , which was not required You will be asked to log in before entering.

The same jury convicted Goines last month of two counts of murder after prosecutors presented testimony and evidence showing he lied to get a search warrant that falsely portrayed the couple as dangerous drug dealers.

The investigation into the drug raid uncovered allegations of much broader corruption. Goines was among a dozen drug squad officers indicted on other charges.

A judge dismissed charges against some of them in June, but a review of thousands of cases involving the unit led prosecutors to dismiss many cases, and the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals has at least 22 convictions related to it Goines repealed.

The jury’s verdict was delayed for several days after Goines suffered a medical emergency in the courtroom and was taken away in an ambulance. Ultimately, they deliberated over Goines’ punishment for more than 10 hours over two days.

Defense attorney Nicole DeBorde asked jurors for a minimum sentence of five years, saying Goines dedicated his life to fighting drugs on the streets. “Our community is safer with someone like Gerald, who serves and cares with his heart,” she said.

Prosecutors asked for a life sentence, telling jurors that Goines exploited people he was supposed to protect in a years-long pattern of corruption that severely damaged the relationship between law enforcement and the community.

“No community is cleansed of an officer who uses his badge as a tool of oppression rather than a shield,” said District Attorney Tanisha Manning.

During the month-long trial, prosecutors said Goines falsely claimed that an informant had bought heroin from a man with a gun at the couple’s home, inciting the violent confrontation that killed the couple and shot and injured four officers, including Goines a fifth were injured.

Goines’ lawyers argued that Tuttle, not police officers, was the first to shoot another person. But a Texas Ranger who investigated the raid testified that the officers fired first, killing the dog and likely provoking Tuttle’s shooting. An officer involved, as well as the judge who approved the arrest warrant, testified that the raid would never have happened if they had known Goines was lying.

Goines’ defense admitted that he lied to obtain the search warrant, but tried to minimize the impact of his false statements. They portrayed the couple as armed drug users who were responsible for their own deaths because they shot at officers.

Investigators later found only small amounts of marijuana and cocaine in the house, and while then-Houston Police Chief Art Acevedo initially praised Goines as “tough,” he later suspended him when the lies came to light. Goines later withdrew while the investigation continued.

During the punishment phase, jurors heard from family members of Nicholas and Tuttle, who described them as kind and generous. Tuttle’s son said his father was “pro-police.”

Several of Goines’ family members told jurors he was a good person and dedicated his life to public service. Elyse Lanier, the widow of former Houston Mayor Bob Lanier, said she knew Goines as a “gentle giant” for 20 years.

One of the people wrongly convicted because of Goines’ false testimony, Otis Mallet, told jurors that what Goines did to him had “traumatically disrupted” his life.

Goines also made a drug arrest in Houston in 2004 of George Floyd, whose death in 2020 at the hands of a Minnesota police officer sparked a national reckoning with racism in policing. A Texas board in 2022 rejected a request to grant Floyd a posthumous pardon for his 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 scheduled to go to trial in November.

Nicholas’ family expressed their gratitude in a statement following Goines’ conviction, saying: “The jury saw this case for what it was: vicious murders by corrupt police officers, an epic cover-up and a measure of justice, at least for Goines .”

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