What real impact does this case have on the people of Houston?

HOUSTON, Texas – Next month, former Houston Police Department narcotics agent Gerald Goines will go on trial for the shooting deaths of Dennis Tuttle and Rhogena Nicholas.

The homeowners were killed in January 2019 during a botched HPD raid when officers entered their home unannounced and with a no-knock search warrant.

KPRC 2 will bring you the inside scoop on the case in our original series, “The Bench,” hosted by investigative reporter Mario Diaz. In the days leading up to and during the trial, you'll hear what to expect and what's happening from our panel of experts and several Houston-area criminal defense attorneys.

What impact will this trial have on the people of Houston? Mario posed this question to four criminal defense attorneys, each of whom had a different perspective.

“It has two purposes: First, to ensure that the government does not overreach. If the prosecution's charges are too outrageous or too harsh, if they are vindictive, then there should be a trial and Nicole DeBorde should have time to put her in her place,” said defense attorney Erin Epley. “It also means to the citizens of Houston that if law enforcement, in any capacity and for any reason, believes they can play with the process, the rules and the law that we all rely on, they will also be put in their place.”

After the deadly raid, questions arose about what exactly went wrong. Several things came to light, including the inconsistencies in the department's narcotics unit and how no-knock search warrants were obtained.

On February 15, 2019, an affidavit was released showing that HPD officers had forged an illegal search warrant that gave officers the green light to enter without knocking. Yet despite this information, former top cop Art Acevedo supported his department's actions and even called the officers “heroes.”

Just weeks later, Acevedo was forced to walk back his words when KPRC 2 Investigates discovered that Goines was under investigation for allegedly forging the arrest warrant for the fatal robbery.

Goines retired, while his partner, Steven Bryant, eventually pleaded guilty to federal charges related to the raid. The raid resulted in officers leaving the department and policy changes.

“It should show everyone what I've known for a long time and what I said before: cops are not perfect, they're just human. There are really, really good ones and there are really, really bad ones. So when the really, really bad ones do really, really bad things, then it's OK to hold them accountable for what they did and that has to be the most important lesson,” said defense attorney Joe Vinas.

After charges were filed against Goines and Bryant, the HPD's narcotics division investigation resulted in the dismissal of several court cases in which Goines had led the arrest or investigation. More than 1,000 of Goines' cases were reviewed, according to the Harris County District Attorney's Office.

In addition, several other people were charged in connection with the raid after the Harris County District Attorney's Office opened an investigation into allegations of an overtime scheme.

“I think all of Houston wants to be safe in their homes and believe that the people who are supposed to protect us are protecting us in the right way,” said defense attorney Angela Weltin. “I think the effect is that it opens our eyes even more that there are times when things go wrong, but it also gives us a platform and tools to make sure that something like this never happens again here in Houston, period.”

But despite the charges, the Tuttle and Nicholas families have not yet received justice in state court.

In June, the judge who tried many of the charges against officers accused in the botched raid dismissed several charges, particularly against officers accused of an alleged overtime scheme. The judge ruled that the charges were too broad.

A few months earlier, two charges against Goines were also dismissed by Judge Veronica Nelson. Goines' attorneys had filed a motion asking the Harris County judge to dismiss the charges against their client, arguing that they lacked specific details about the laws he had violated that led to the murder charges. The motion pointed out that while the indictment mentioned tampering with government records, it did not specify which of the six sections of the tampering statute Goines was alleged to have violated. A week later, Goines was re-indicted by a grand jury on the two charges.

Now, more than five years later, Goines is finally on trial.

“This will change the way the citizens of Houston view law enforcement because if he is found guilty, we have criminal cops out there operating unhindered and unsupervised, and that is very concerning for the citizens of Harris County,” said criminal defense attorney Joe Vinas.

This trial will bring many things to light for the City of Houston and its Police Department. It will also cost Houstonians dearly. In January, we learned that taxpayers will have to pay at least $2.9 million to cover the costs the City and former Police Chief Acevedo face in a lawsuit against the Tuttle and Nicholas families.