Houston Chronicle by Keri Blakinger and St. John Barned-Smith May 13, 2019
Just inside the front door, two teeth sit in a dried puddle of blood. Embedded in the walls and floor are bullets that were never removed.
In the dining room, a shot-up man’s shirt lies in a heap on the floor, the evidence tag still attached. Blood spatter speckles the walls, sofas and stray boxes. Nearly empty drug baggies clutter the floor.
A four-day independent forensics review at 7815 Harding Street found a cache of evidence left behind by the city’s crime scene teams after a botched drug raid at the home left dead a couple suspected of selling drugs.
Hired by the relatives of Rhogena Nicholas and Dennis Tuttle, the new forensics team found no signs the pair fired shots at police — and plenty of signs that previous investigators overlooked dozens of pieces of potential evidence in what one expert called a “sloppy†investigation.
“It doesn’t appear that they took the basic steps to confirm and collect the physical evidence to know whether police were telling the truth,†said attorney Mike Doyle, who is representing the Nicholas family. “That’s the whole point of forensic scene documentation. That’s the basic check on people just making stuff up.â€
Inconsistencies
According to the Houston Police Department’s account, undercover narcotics officers burst in the front door of the Pecan Park home on Jan. 28 and opened fire as soon as a pit bull lunged at them. Hearing the gunshot, Tuttle came running out from the back of the house and started shooting at the officers with a .357 revolver, striking the case agent who’d been the first man through the door.
The wounded lawman fell on the couch near Nicholas, who allegedly made a move for his weapon. A back-up officer opened fire and killed the 58-year-old.
But the shoot-out continued, and in the end, Tuttle and Nicholas were killed and five officers injured — including four who were shot. Police maintain it was not friendly fire.
Though the botched raid was intended to target heroin dealers, authorities said they only turned up 18 grams of marijuana and 1.5 grams of cocaine — user-level amounts. And the first man through the door, case agent Gerald Goines, later retired under investigation amid accusations that he’d lied on the search warrant used to justify the raid.
Houston police, the FBI and the Harris County District Attorney’s Office launched separate investigations into the matter, and prosecutors are exploring the possibility of criminal charges against one or more of the officers involved.
But now, the four-day review by independent forensic expert Mike Maloney, a retired supervisory special agent with the Naval Criminal Investigative Service, is raising additional new questions about the deadly bust.
More:
https://www.houstonchronicle.com/news/houston-texas/houston/article/Evidence-left-behind-after-botched-Pecan-Park-13842488.php
