Ex-Cop Gerald Goines: Guilty of Felony Murder in 2019 No Knock Houston Raid

HOUSTON, Texas – The jury in the high-profile murder trial of former Houston Police Department narcotics officer Gerald Goines reached a verdict of guilty Wednesday afternoon.

Goines was found guilty of two counts of murder in the 2019 Harding Street raid that resulted in the deaths of Dennis Tuttle, Rhogena Nicholas, and their dog.

The ex-officer’s sentencing phase will begin Thursday at 10 a.m. He faces up to life in prison. The same jury will also decide his sentence after hearing from witnesses during the punishment phase.

Goines’ former partner, Steven Bryant, pleaded guilty  to federal charges of alteration or falsification of government records in 2021. His testimony was significant at the Goines trial this past week. From click to Houston on September 12, 2024:

After the shooting, Bryant testified that he heard former HPD Chief Art Acevedo tell several officers to turn off their bodycam video, to which they complied. When asked by attorney Manning if this was policy, Bryant testified “We are supposed to keep out bodycams on during a raid.”

Bryant was then asked by attorney Manning if any of the narcotics team had on bodycam video during the raid, Bryant said no but the narcotics team sergeant did have an independent body camera video.

AmmoLand has been in the forefront of reporting on the bloody Harding Street raid since it became known in January of 2019.  At the time, it was reported no officers were wearing body cameras. Now we know there were body cameras, but Chief Acevedo ordered they be turned off. Chief Acevedo resigned from the Houston PD in 2021, to take a position as police chief in Miami, Florida.  He was fired after six months on the job. Then he took a position as the police chief in Aurora, Colorado, in December of 2022. He resigned the position in January of 2023. Acevedo was appointed assistant city manager in Austin in January of 2024, but turned down the position later in the month.  Acevedo’s decision to order officers to turn off body cameras has sparked a controversy.

Four other officers were charged after an investigation by the Harris County Attorney General. From a previous AmmoLand article:

Prosecutors charged six officers, including Goins and Bryant, on 1 July, 2020.

The additional charges are primarily for overcharges of overtime, false claims about money for informants, and tampering with government records. Several of the charges are based on phone records which show what was claimed on government forms could not have happened, given the location records from the phones.  One officer characterized them as “paperwork violations”.  Small violations led to a sloppy attitude about following the rules. Many would say overcharging on overtime is not a small violation.  Then Dennis and Rhogena paid the price.

In January, 2019, two innocent people were killed because dirty police officers lied on a warrant. There is significant evidence the corruption had been ongoing for years.  In the aftermath of the raid many are questioning the utility and overuse of no-knock warrants.

Goines still faces federal charges stemming from the no-knock raid. There are at least two ongoing civil cases resulting from the raid.

©2024 by Dean Weingarten: Permission to share is granted when this notice and link are included.

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