HOUSTON, Texas — Jurors have returned three guilty verdicts in the murder trial of former Houston police narcotics officer Gerald Goines.
The ex-cop was charged with two counts of felony murder in the 2019 shooting deaths of Dennis Tuttle and Rhogena Nicholas. The couple was gunned down during a botched drug raid at their Harding Street home.
Goines was also convicted of tampering with a government document because he lied to get the "no-knock" warrant that portrayed the couple as dangerous heroin dealers.
Four HPD officers, including Goines, were shot and wounded after bursting into the victims' modest home and opening fire.
Jurors heard closing arguments Tuesday morning before beginning deliberations. They deliberated for a few hours again on Wednesday before reaching a verdict.
“Being entrusted to protect our community as a police officer does not give you license to violate someone and their rights simply because you think that they have or deal drugs," Assistant District Attorney Keaton Forcht told the jury during closing arguments Tuesday.
The defense pointed out that drug evidence was found inside the home along with several weapons, some of which were shown to the jury. They claim the officers identified themselves when they broke down the door.
“This business about the officers just burst in there and mowed people down, that’s the narrative in the media – but now you know you got to see the facts and that’s not what the case is about at all – that’s not what the evidence showed at all," defense attorney George "Mac" Secrest said.
But investigators testified that they only found small amounts of marijuana and cocaine in the house and no evidence of a major drug operation.
Evidence includes bodycam video of Harding Street raid
Jurors heard two weeks of testimony during the closely watched trial.
Prosecutors said Goines falsely claimed that an informant had bought heroin at the couple’s home from a man with a gun.
During the trial, Jeff Wolf, a Texas ranger who investigated the shooting, testified officers fired first when they entered the home and shot the couple’s dog. Nicholas, who had cancer, had been sitting on her couch watching television while her husband was asleep in a bedroom. Wolf said the gunfire and Nicholas screaming at officers likely resulted in Tuttle coming from his bedroom and opening fire at the officers.
Defense attorney Nicole DeBorde argued Nicholas and Tuttle were responsible for their own deaths and that officers had identified themselves before entering the home.
But Wolf testified the couple might never have heard this before gunfire erupted.
Last week, jurors saw dramatic bodycam video of the shootout. The graphic video included gunfire, shouts and groans.
Sarah Sanchez, a neighbor and friend, testified that the victims kept to themselves, had various health problems, lived on a fixed income and loved their dogs.
Other neighbors described the couple as "easygoing" and said they didn't bother anyone.
Testimony in the sentencing phase of the trial begins on Thursday. Goines could get up to life in prison.
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Harding Street fallout
A massive investigation discovered that dozens of defendants were sent to prison on drug charges based on what prosecutors called "lies" by "dirty cops," including Goines. Investigators said they were motivated by greed because the phony cases led to overtime pay.
A dozen officers tied to the narcotics squad that carried out the raid, including Goines, were later indicted on other charges following a corruption probe. A judge in June dismissed charges against some of them.
Since the raid, prosecutors have reviewed thousands of cases handled by the narcotics unit.
The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals has overturned at least 22 convictions linked to Goines, who also faces federal charges.
One of the other cases tied to Goines that remains under scrutiny is his 2004 drug arrest of George Floyd, who lived in Houston at the time. Floyd's 2020 death at the hands of a Minnesota police officer, who was later convicted of murder, sparked a nationwide reckoning on racism in policing. A Texas board in 2022 declined a request that Floyd be granted a posthumous pardon for his drug conviction stemming from his arrest by Goines.