Family of Harding Street Raid victims win appeal against City of Houston

HOUSTON - Attorneys for the family of a woman killed by police in the 2019 Harding Street Raid say an appeals court has rejected the City of Houston’s attempt to block testimony and evidence being taken from Houston Police Department managers involved in the deadly raid.

According to the Doyle LLP and St. Martin & Bourque LLC law firms, the Texas Fourteenth Court of Appeals “denied the city’s assertion that the Harris County Probate Court, which routinely handles wrongful death and probate cases, did not have jurisdiction to proceed with the Nicholas family’s petition to investigate.”

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Rhogena Nicholas and Dennis Tuttle were killed during the no-knock raid at their home in January 2019. The circumstances leading up to the raid are under investigation, and two officers involved in the raid have been charged.

In July, the family of Roghena Nicholas filed a petition for an order authorizing the taking of pre-suit depositions of Houston Police Department personnel.

The City requested dismissal of the petition for “lack of subject matter jurisdiction”, but the trial court denied the City’s plea after a hearing in September. The City then appealed the order denying the plea to the jurisdiction.

On Thursday, the appeals court affirmed the probate court’s order denying the City’s plea to the jurisdiction.