Current:Home > MyRetired Houston officer gets 60 years in couple’s drug raid deaths that revealed corruption -Keystone Wealth Vision
Retired Houston officer gets 60 years in couple’s drug raid deaths that revealed corruption
View
Date:2025-04-27 20:05:16
HOUSTON (AP) — 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 department’s narcotics unit.
Gerald Goines, 60, was convicted in the January 2019 deaths of Dennis Tuttle, 59, and Rhogena Nicholas, 58, who were shot along with their dog after officers burst into their home using a “no-knock” warrant that didn’t require them to announce themselves before entering.
Goines looked down but had no visible reaction as he heard the sentences for each count of murder, which will run concurrently. The jurors deliberated for more than 10 hours over two days on Goines’ sentence.
Prosecutors presented testimony and evidence to show he lied to get a search warrant that falsely portrayed the couple as dangerous drug dealers.
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 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.
Defense attorney Nicole DeBorde had asked for the minimum sentence of five years, saying Goines had dedicated his life to keeping drugs off the streets. “Our community is safer with someone like Gerald, with the heart to serve and the heart to care,” she said.
Prosecutors asked for life in prison, telling jurors that Goines preyed upon people he was supposed to protect with a yearslong pattern of corruption that has severely damaged the relationship between law enforcement and the community.
“No community is cleansed by an officer that uses his badge as an instrument of oppression rather than a shield of protection,” said prosecutor Tanisha Manning.
Prosecutors said Goines falsely claimed an informant had bought heroin at the couple’s 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.
Goines’ attorneys acknowledged he lied to get the search warrant but sought to minimize the impact of his false statements. They argued that the first to fire at another person was Tuttle and not police officers. But a Texas Ranger who investigated the raid testified that the officers fired first, killing the dog and likely provoking Tuttle’s gunfire.
An officer who took part as well as the judge who approved the warrant testified that the raid would never have happened had they known Goines lied.
Investigators later found only small amounts of marijuana and cocaine in the house, and while Houston’s police chief at the time, Art Acevedo, initially praised Goines as being “tough as nails,” he later suspended him when the lies emerged. Goines later retired as the probes continued.
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.
Nicholas’ family expressed gratitude after Goines’ convictions in a statement saying that “the jury saw this case for what it was: Vicious murders by corrupt police, an epic cover-up attempt and a measure of justice, at least with Goines.”
___
Follow Juan A. Lozano: https://twitter.com/juanlozano70
veryGood! (34743)
Related
- Paula Abdul settles lawsuit with former 'So You Think You Can Dance' co
- Oregon man charged with stalking, harassing UConn's Paige Bueckers
- Officials release new details, renderings of victim found near Gilgo Beach
- Ex-North Carolina sheriff’s convictions over falsifying training records overturned
- Federal Spending Freeze Could Have Widespread Impact on Environment, Emergency Management
- Hawaii’s Kilauea volcano is erupting again in a remote part of a national park
- What is the best used SUV to buy? Consult this list of models under $10,000
- Sean Diddy Combs Allegedly Forced Victims Into Drug-Fueled Freak-Off Sex Performances
- Former Danish minister for Greenland discusses Trump's push to acquire island
- Target Circle Week is coming in October: Get a preview of holiday shopping deals, discounts
Ranking
- New Zealand official reverses visa refusal for US conservative influencer Candace Owens
- US Coast Guard says Russian naval vessels crossed into buffer zone off Alaska
- Michigan cannot fire coach Sherrone Moore for cause for known NCAA violations in sign-stealing case
- A Southern California man pleads not guilty to setting a fire that exploded into a massive wildfire
- Juan Soto to be introduced by Mets at Citi Field after striking record $765 million, 15
- 2 former NYFD chiefs arrested in ongoing federal corruption investigation
- Officers will conduct daily bomb sweeps at schools in Springfield, Ohio, after threats
- A Southern California man pleads not guilty to setting a fire that exploded into a massive wildfire
Recommendation
Will the 'Yellowstone' finale be the last episode? What we know about Season 6, spinoffs
Brackish water creeping up the Mississippi River may threaten Louisiana’s drinking supply
Harry Potter Actress Katie Leung Is Joining Bridgerton Season 4—as a Mom
Tennessee is adding a 10% fee on football game tickets next season to pay players
'Survivor' 47 finale, part one recap: 2 players were sent home. Who's left in the game?
Sean Diddy Combs Allegedly Forced Victims Into Drug-Fueled Freak-Off Sex Performances
Tommy Cash, country singer and younger brother of Johnny Cash, dies at 84
Florida will launch criminal probe into apparent assassination attempt of Trump, governor says