A retired Houston officer is sentenced to 60 years in prison for the deaths of a couple in a drug raid that exposed corruption

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 the deaths of Dennis Tuttle, 59, and Rhogena Nicholas, 58, who were shot along with their dog after officers arrived with a “no-knock” warrant that did not require them to do so If you break into your house, please register before entering.

Goines had been free on bail since his indictment for the murders in January 2019 until his sentencing last month. He looked down but showed no visible reaction as he heard the verdicts for each murder count, which will be handed down concurrently. The jury deliberated for more than ten hours.

Ryan Tuttle then sat on the witness stand with a framed photo of his father and stepmother. He said they were “victims of serious systematic failures in police work, particularly under the watch of Gerald Goines.”

“My father and stepmother were not involved in drug trafficking. They were good people. You don’t deserve this,” he said, then stared at Goines as he walked away.

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 left the couple dead and four officers, including Goines, shot and wounded and a fifth injured had been. A Texas Ranger who investigated the raid testified that the officers fired first, killing the dog and likely provoking Tuttle's shooting.

His lawyers admitted he lied to get the search warrant but tried to mitigate the impact. Two witnesses – a colleague and the judge who signed the arrest warrant – said the raid would never have happened if Goines had told the truth.

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, 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 involving Goines .

Defense attorney Nicole DeBorde had called for a minimum sentence of five years, saying Goines had 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.

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.

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.

“We have lodged our appeal. We believe we have some excellent appeal matters. We still do not believe he is guilty of the crime of aggravated murder, and we look forward to the appeals courts considering that,” Nicole DeBorde, one of Goines' attorneys, told reporters after the verdict was read.

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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