Ex-HPD cop Goines could avoid trial
Felony murder indictments dropped in 2019 raid
A Harris County judge on Tuesday quashed two felony murder indictments against retired Houston Police Department officer Gerald Goines, potentially throwing a long delay until he could face trial in the deaths of two people in a botched 2019 drug raid.
It could end Goines’ prosecution over the deaths of Dennis Tuttle and Rhogena Nicholas entirely. The decision by 482nd District Court Judge Veronica Nelson puts District Attorney Kim Ogg’s prosecutors in the position of needing to appeal her decision or seek a reindictment.
Goines’ defense team had sought to quash his 2019 murder indictments, arguing they were fatally flawed and filled with constitutional violations.
“It doesn’t give us adequate notice of what it is specifically that we have to defend against,” said Mac Secrest, one of his attorneys.
In a statement, the Harris County District Attorney’s Office called Nelson’s ruling “another delay tactic by the defense” and pledged to continue the prosecution.
“The Harris County District Attorney’s office is shocked and tremendously disappointed that a judge would choose to revisit this issue, knowing that her predecessor had already ruled the defendant’s position meritless,” the statement said. “The office is considering all its options, including amending the indictment, with
an eye towards trying this case as soon as possible to ensure justice for the victims of these crimes.”
Nelson took over the case earlier this year in place of Judge Frank Aguilar, who was suspended from the 228th District Court bench after being charged with misdemeanor assault in Galveston County.
In announcing her decision, Nelson said she reviewed Aguilar’s records from a January 2023 hearing and determined the indictments fell short. Aguilar never issued his own written ruling on the motion to quash, according to court records.
Neal Davis, a criminal defense attorney, noted the significance of Judge Nelson’s ruling with months to go until Goines’ scheduled trial in June.
“The fact that she granted it this close to the trial shows how concerned she was about the charge,” Davis said. “Judges want cases to get tried and for people to properly have their day in court.”
As for what happens next, the prosecution may have no choice but to appeal her ruling if they can’t find a new indictment to stick.
“The judge’s ruling would be on appeal for a year, which means the new DA would deal with it,” said Davis, noting that Ogg lost the Democratic primary election and would be out of office in 2025.
Kenneth Williams, a South Texas College of Law professor, noted the rarity of the judge’s decision, emphasizing that it involved a case where prosecutors uniquely used tampering with a government record as an underlying charge to murder.
Most felony murders use other violent offenses as the underlying charge, he said.
Motion to quash
While the judge did not elaborate in court why she quashed the indictment, Williams noted that jurists typically do so because an indictment is either factually or legally insufficient.
In their motion to quash, Goines’ defense attorneys argued that the indictments did not specify which law he violated in connection with the felony murder indictments. While the indictment mentions the underlying tampering charge, it doesn’t say which of the six tampering subsections he may have violated, according to the motion.
“Nothing is alleged in the indictment which sets forth and designates the actual document that supposedly was ‘tampered’ with, nor the specific statement within the document, that allegedly was false,” the motion read.
The 2019 felony murder indictment accuses Goines of tampering with a government record, which caused police to execute a “no knock” search warrant on Tuttle and Nicholas’ Pecan Park home. According to police, the raid sparked a gunbattle between the coudealers. ple and police. Four officers were wounded, and Tuttle and Nicholas were killed.
In the aftermath of the shooting, Goines and the narcotics squad he was part of came under intense scrutiny. According to police, Goines admitted information in the warrant was false, including a claim that a confidential informant supplied information the couple was selling heroin from the house. After the raid, police found marijuana and cocaine in the house, but no heroin.
Nelson’s order is the second time a murder charge related to Harding Street has been dismissed. In August 2021, prosecutors dismissed a murder charge against Houston police officer Felipe Gallegos after misconduct by a former prosecutor handling the case raised concerns about the attorney’s judgment. Gallegos was never reindicted.
A trial pending
Nelson’s decision came at the end of a 40-minute hearing meant to deal with motions regarding Goines’ upcoming June trial, which Nelson had scheduled last week. The trial date may still stand despite the dismissed indictment.
During the hearing, attorneys agreed about what evidence and statements could be presented during the trial — including about Goines’ alleged bad acts outside of the Harding Street raid and whether the married couple killed in the raid could be called drug Goines’ attorneys also argued that they should be allowed to present his case as an anti-police, politically motivated prosecution by the Harris County District Attorney’s Office, and be allowed to describe the efforts by the DA’s office to publicize the case in the media.
Goines also is charged with engaging in organized criminal activity and aggregate theft by a public servant. Those charges are related to an alleged overtime scheme participated in by Goines and other officers that was uncovered in investigations following the raid. No decisions were made about those charges on Tuesday.
Following Nelson’s decision, Rhogena Nicholas’ family said they were disappointed that outcomes from criminal cases generated by the Harding Street raid remained a “far-off prospect.”
“The family of Rhogena Nicholas remains disappointed that local, state, and federal authorities have either ignored this injustice or helped delay the Goines murder prosecution,” said Mike Doyle, the attorney representing the family in a civil lawsuit over the raid. “The legal explanations aside, we’re now in a sixth year of a taxpayerfunded cover-up of these murders. The Nicholas family still will not give up its ongoing fight to reveal the truth of what happened before, during and after the killing of Rhogena.”