Ex-Houston Officer Indicted Again On Murder Charges Days After Similar Charges Dismissed

A grand jury in Harris County, Texas, reindicted a former Houston Police Department officer on two murder charges Wednesday, one week after a judge had dismissed similar charges against him.

Gerald Goines led a 2019 drug raid on Jan. 28, 2019, that became known as the Harding Street raid. Police say Goines, a narcotics officer, lied in a search warrant by inventing a confidential informant who had reported buying heroin at the home of Dennis Tuttle, 59, and his wife, Rhogena Nicholas, 58. Officers executed a no-knock warrant at the home and killed Tuttle and Nicholas; they found only small amounts of cocaine and marijuana but no heroin.

Goines’ attorneys argued the previous indictment was flawed and did not provide a “meaningful opportunity to present a complete defense,” Houston Public Media reported. State District Judge Veronica Nelson dismissed the charges on March 27.

The new charges were adjusted to address those concerns, a spokesperson for the Harris County District Attorney’s Office said, according to Houston Public Media.

Goines is alleged to have had a history of corruption, and Harris County prosecutors have said that every case in which he was involved must be reexamined. Kim Ogg, the district attorney, told the Houston Chronicle in 2020 that more than 160 convictions that relied on information given by Goines could be overturned.

In a federal lawsuit filed earlier this year, Goines is accused of falsifying drug charges for 15 years by planting drugs as well as by lying in affidavits, police reports and in court.