Harding Street raid trial: Juror excused in former HPD officer Gerald Goines murder case
HOUSTON - A juror has been dismissed in the murder trial of former HPD Officer Gerald Goines, who led the deadly Harding Street raid five years ago.
The juror was excused after telling the judge she didn't realize this was the "No-Knock" warrant case she has heard all about on the news. She says it started to sound familiar during Monday's testimony and the juror told judge Veronica Nelson she could not be fair and impartial to former HPD Officer Gerald Goines who's on trial charged with murder.
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Extensive media coverage is only one obstacle in this case, since the 2019 fatal Harding Street no-knock warrant left Rhogena Nicholas, Dennis Tuttle, and their dog shot to death in their home.
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"The first thing the prosecution has to overcome is the instant credibility a police officer always gets in court. We are raised to respect law enforcement," explains FOX 26 Legal Analyst Chris Tritico.
Houston Police Department Narcotics Officer Gerald Goines, who secured the warrant, is no longer on the force, and is now on trial for murder after court records say he told several lies to get the warrant, including how he had the couple's home under investigation, and had a confidential informant buy heroin from the house.
"The defense is trying to separate this into two separate events, and they're saying the lie to get into the house, the tampering with a government document if you will, has nothing to do with the shooting that resulted in the murder charge...that's a novel, technical defense that is separating him from the Law of Parties. If it works, he'll be found not guilty. The Law of Parties says if you're in for a penny, you're in for a pound basically. The best way I can describe that is in a capital murder case, which this is not, if you drive someone to a scene and your buddies go in, and they shoot the guy instead of just robbing him, the driver's charged with cpital murder just like everybody else. That's what the Law of Parties says," Tritico explained.
Prosecutors say Tuttle likely opened fire, shooting four HPD Narcotics officers including Goines, believing they were burglars, but defense attorneys say the team went into the house yelling "police", wearing "tactical uniforms" with the word "police" present on several areas of their vests and shirts.
"Whether it was a valid warrant or not does not give a citizen the right to use force in defense of that warrant. We sort those things out later. Look at it this way, if you're being arrested, even if it's a wrongful arrest, you don't get to use force in defense of that arrest. The fact that the warrant was not a lawful warrant, we could've sorted that out in court later. When you look at the 'why' they got the warrant and does that give them the right to go in there, that's not going to be really much of an issue in my view," says Tritico.
Two police officers testified Tuesday. Officer Nicole Blankenship-Reeves told jurors Tuttle and Nicholas first ended up on HPD's radar when a neighbor called 911 claiming her daughter was being held in the couple's house and doing drugs. Prosecutors say that neighbor simply had issues with the couple. Blankenship-Reeves says she didn't find any evidence of wrongdoing that day, in early January 2019.
Blankenship-Reeves wrote notes and gave them to Narcotics Lt. Marsha Todd, who also took the stand Tuesday, saying she then gave the information to Goines.
About two weeks after that, Nicholas and Tuttle were shot to death inside their home. So, is Goines guilty of murder for their deaths? Jurors are expected to decide after hearing evidence over the next several weeks.
Lt. Todd also said on the witness stand on the day of the deadly shootings, she went to Goines hospital room where he was shot in the face and had to write notes to communicate. After she asked Goines the name of his Confidential Informant, Todd says Goines wrote a name on the paper, and she says he tried to rip up the paper but wasn't strong enough. So, she tore up the paper, but put it in her pocket and turned it over to their supervisor.