Former HPD officer Gerald Goines sentenced to 60 years in prison
HOUSTON - A history-making verdict in the Gerald Goines murder trial. Jurors have sentenced him to decades behind bars.
Jurors handed down the verdict Tuesday afternoon, sentencing the former HPD narcotics officer to 60 years in prison. Gerald Goines is 60-years-old, so this is essentially a life sentence for him.
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This verdict is one for the history books. Goines is actually the first law enforcement officer in our county to be found guilty of murder while on the job.
"This is the most important verdict in Harris County history. No police officer that any of us have been able to look up, find, or remember has ever been convicted of murder in Harris County," says Harris County District Attorney Kim Ogg.
Rhogena Nicholas and Dennis Tuttle were killed during a no knock warrant in 2019. It was a drug search warrant Goines lied to obtain.
"It's been five and a half years of waiting with little answers and honestly with a heavy burden of my father's and my stepmother's names being tarnished as drug dealers, which they are not," says Dennis Tuttle's son, Ryan Tuttle. He also delivered a victim impact speech, at one point looking right at Goines, telling him if he's ever going to give family closure and the answer to why this happened, now is the time. However, Goines didn't respond.
Tuttle also added, "I think the man lived a double life. I think his family and friends knew a very different version of him. He was a bad person, and he negatively impacted thousands of lives, including his own family."
"Gerald Goines has been a stain on the reputation of every honest cop in our community. A community that he terrorized through corruption, worthy of the movie ‘Training Day.’ He had throwdown weapons. He had throwdown drugs," says Ogg and prosecutors say he would use those throwdown drugs, planting them "over and over again" on Houstonians, sending many to prison.
"We've given the most notice that we know how, to tell people if you are victims of Gerald Goines, if you were wrongfully convicted, come forward. Lawyers can be appointed," says Ogg.
"Goines preyed on predominantly poor communities who may or may not have had the resources to fight back," says Prosecutor Tanisha Manning.
Goines was part of HPD's narcotics team known as Squad 15.
"Their indictments remain quashed, but those investigations remain open on the other ten members of Squad 15. I hope they hear me...people want to believe in the police. That's who we're trained to trust from the time we're little. So imagine the damage done to the communities in Houston who suffered under Squad 15 and Gerald Goines for the last 20 years," Ogg said directly to the camera.
"We've found some closure, and we've found some of the bad police officers and have set a precedent for moving forward for all law enforcement that they will be held accountable if they are violating their citizens' civil rights," Tuttle says.
Nicholas' mother, we're told, wanted to be here, but her health wouldn't allow it.
"She will be 90-years-old this Friday. My daughter has notified her and all she could say is thank you God, that justice has been served, and my daughter and her husband, are not corrupt like they said they were," says Nicholas' Sister-In-Law Patricia Nicholas.
"We filed our notice of appeal. We think we have some excellent appellate issues. We still don't believe legally he is guilty of the crime of felony murder, and we look forward to having the appellate courts review this," explains Goines' Attorney, Nicole DeBorde.
Tuttle hopes policies in police departments will change to prevent something like this from ever happening again. He says he also wants a public apology from then HPD Chief Art Acevedo, who he says called his dad and stepmom drug dealers.