Harding Street trial: Sergeant accused of wearing body-camera during raid called to court
HOUSTON - It's the murder trial for former HPD Officer Gerald Goines, but much of the talk in court on Friday was about Goines' ex-narcotics squad member, a sergeant who may have been wearing a body camera during the deadly Harding Street raid.
As Judge Veronica Nelson tries to figure out if former HPD Squad 15 Narcotics Sgt. Clemente Reyna recorded that 2019 fatal 'No Knock' warrant, she told him to come to the courtroom. He did, but she still doesn't know if he was wearing a camera that deadly day.
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"I'm surprised they would ask a question they knew he did not have personal knowledge of. He didn't see a camera. He couldn't describe a camera, but yet he's talking about it because he heard it," Reyna's Attorney, Lisa Andrews says.
The question Andrews is referring to is when Prosecutor Tanisha Manning asked former HPD Officer Steven Bryant, while he was on the stand, if he or any member of Squad 15 wore a body camera during the deadly 2019 Harding Street raid that left homeowners Rhogena Nicholas and Dennis Tuttle shot to death. Four officers were also shot and survived.
Bryant said Reyna may have been wearing a personal, non-HPD issued body cam. But when Reyna was called to court, outside the presence of the jury, his attorney said he would only answer if granted immunity by the Harris County District Attorney's Office.
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So, why not just answer yes or no whether a video exists, or it doesn't?
"I'm not going to answer the question for the reasons I stated in court, which are the state has put my client and I in an impossible position. They have shown themselves to be very willing to charge people with very serious crimes with no evidence at all...just because we might say it doesn't exist doesn't mean they will believe us. So, I can't advise him one way or another about whether he should answer that question...that one little question 'did you have a body cam?'. They could have said, 'OK, you have immunity to that one question.' But they were unwilling to do that and so ask yourself why, because they wanted to leave an impression in front of the jury ...they just leave this out there where the jury is thinking that whole squad is corrupt, and they had this body cam, and they probably destroyed it. My client had cooperated and served this city for 27 years, doing a very dangerous job. He served in the military, and for all of that, he got all of these felony indictments that are political in nature," says Andrews.
Crime scene photos of bullet holes covering the Harding Street home from the family room to the kitchen, even in the stove, were shown in court on Friday. One family member left the courtroom. There was also police officers' blood-soaked gear and equipment littering the yard.
The photos showed Dennis Tuttle and the couple's pitbull shot to death on the floor. Detectives say Rhogena Nicholas was on the couch as Tuttle shot one of the officers who fell onto the couch with Nicholas and, according to investigators, she was shot as she tried to grab that officer's gun.
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Defense attorneys pointed out Christmas bags in the pictures that contained drugs, a glass "dope pipe" (the attorney called it) photographed near Nicholas and Goines' Attorney Mac Secrest said, "This is a hoarder house and there were places no one looked" as he showed photos of clutter in the home.
A small amount of cocaine and marijuana were found at the house, but investigators say the couple likely was not dealing drugs. The defense argued Friday "low level" dealers often deal small amounts to feed their own habit.
Goines is charged with murder, accused of lying to secure a narcotics search warrant of the home.
His trial is expected to last several weeks.