Former HPD officer charged with murder in botched raid at Harding Street house

[Bigun]

Former HPD officer charged with murder in botched raid at Harding Street house

St. John Barned-Smith and Keri Blakinger Aug. 23, 2019 Updated: Aug. 23, 2019 3:11 p.m.

A former narcotics officer has been charged with first-degree murder, nearly seven months after a botched drug raid that left a south Houston couple dead and unleashed a sprawling police scandal.

Ex-case agent Gerald Goines on Friday was hit with two counts of felony murder and is still under investigation over claims he stole guns, drugs and money, Harris County District Attorney Kim Ogg announced at a news conference downtown. His partner, Steven Bryant, was also charged with one count of witness tampering...

https://www.houstonchronicle.com/news/houston-texas/houston/article/Former-HPD-officer-charged-with-murder-in-botched-14373874.php?utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=socialflow&utm_source=facebook.com&fbclid=IwAR0EuU_RaptuQv7N-qyjkuiwF6Q327TO5VN67jaAD5g_uJRBi3E26cURWgg

[Bigun]

@Cyber Liberty @Smokin Joe @GrouchoTex @Sanguine @verga @roamer_1 @TomSea @mystery-ak @EdJames

Started to put this on the Texas board but put it here instead because I knew many here not from Texas have been following the case. Feel free to move if necessary.

[GrouchoTex]

Thanks, @Bigun

Wow!

1st degree murder.

I wonder if they'll negotiate that down, make a deal of some kind.

[Bigun]

Thanks, @Bigun

Wow!

1st degree murder.

I wonder if they'll negotiate that down, make a deal of some kind.

You are very welcome @GrouchoTex.

One other little factoid not mentioned in the linked article is that both the former officers indicted are black and the victims were white.  I know I probably won't be popular for injecting that here but I think it to be very relevant.

[Sanguine]

I'm glad they are doing what appears to be the right thing. 

Thanks, Cyber.

[EdJames]

Thanks @Bigun, I had a feeling from the start that Goines was filthy.

[Bigun]

Thanks @Bigun, I had a feeling from the start that Goines was filthy.

For several years prior to my surgery last year, I played golf with a couple of retired HPD officers on a regular basis and heard many a tale about the goings-on in the Narcotics division there.  Never any names but I'm pretty sure I know who they were talking about now @EdJames.

[240B]

Hell yes it was. Not only did he kill the innocent occupants of the home, but he got several of his fellow officers shot in the process. Forget about the fact that he did not follow any police procedures before the raid, but more than just that what he did was STUPID on every level.

I've never seen a stronger case of 'gross negligence' in any police killing. Most people following this case believe that it was case of a mistaken address. They simply went to the wrong home. Still, they could have surveilled the target first to see what they were dealing with. They would have known there were only two people home, wait for them to leave, and pull the car over.

Instead of that, they burst into the home guns blazing. "Kill'um all and let God sort it out", is not standard police procedures.
That "Lethal Weapon" crap only works in the movies.

[TomSea]

Thanks for the headsup.

[verga]

@Bigun I remember reading about this back then. It was one of those things that just didn't "smell" right.

[Bigun]

@Bigun I remember reading about this back then. It was one of those things that just didn't "smell" right.

Yep!  It stunk on ice from day uno @verga.

[Fishrrman]

https://www.ammoland.com/2019/08/police-charged-with-murder-tampering-in-houston-no-knock-raid/#axzz5xoxWSsI9

Police Charged with Murder, Tampering, in Houston No-Knock Raid
Ammoland Inc.
Posted on August 25, 2019 by Dean Weingarten

Harris County District Attorney Kim Ogg has announced felony murder charges for former Sergeant Gerald Goins of Narcotics Squad 15, the Houston Police Department (HPD), in the homicides of Dennis Tuttle and Rhogena Nicholas. The married couple, who lived in their modest Houston home at 7815 Harding Street for Twenty years, were killed with their dog in a no-knock raid on January 28th. DA Ogg also announced former Houston police officer Steven Bryant has been charged with second-degree tampering of a government document.

Both officers retired two months after the raid, as the investigation into the raid proceeded.

At every turn of the investigation of the 28 January raid, where the married couple was killed, and four officers wounded, more questions are raised and more disturbing facts uncovered.

We know the no-knock warrant was fraudulent. Both Houston Police Chief Acevedo and District Attorney Ogg acknowledge this fact. We know no significant amount of drugs or cash was found at 7815 Harding Street. We know most of the neighbors did not see anything suspicious and knew Dennis Tuttle as a medically discharged Navy man, and Rhogena Nicholas as a caring, believing Christian wife, who sent a prayer to her mother every day.  The neighbors said the couple kept to themselves, with few visitors. We know the only heroin found in relation to the raid was heroin found in Sgt. Goines Houston Police Department vehicle.

More at URL above...

[Cyber Liberty]

We know the only heroin found in relation to the raid was heroin found in Sgt. Goines Houston Police Department vehicle.

What we have here is a sloppy job of evidence-planting.

[Bigun]

Duplicate.  Posted  days ago http://www.gopbriefingroom.com/index.php/topic,373075.msg2039867.html#msg2039867

[Sanguine]

I merged them, @Bigun.

[Bigun]

I merged them, @Bigun.

Thanks! 

[Smokin Joe]

@Cyber Liberty @Smokin Joe @GrouchoTex @Sanguine @verga @roamer_1 @TomSea @mystery-ak @EdJames

Started to put this on the Texas board but put it here instead because I knew many here not from Texas have been following the case. Feel free to move if necessary.

Wow! Thanks @Bigun !