Jurors deliberate in murder trial of former HPD officer Gerald Goines

HOUSTON – Jurors are currently deliberating the fate of former Houston police officer Gerald Goines after closing arguments concluded Tuesday afternoon.

Jurors began deliberating shortly after 2 p.m. They are trying to decide whether former HPD officer Gerald Goines is guilty of the premeditated murder of homeowners Rhogena Nicholas and Dennis Tuttle in 2019. Their dog was also shot.

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Prosecutors accuse Goines of lying to a judge in order to obtain a no-knock search warrant for drug offenses.

Defense attorneys say the couple died not because of an illegal warrant, but because of their own actions. They say Tuttle fired just four shots, hitting four police officers who were not wearing protective vests, leaving one paralyzed.

It all happened within 80 seconds in a house in southeast Houston on Harding Street.

“Just because you have a badge doesn't mean you're above the law. Just because you suffer from depression or a mental illness doesn't mean you're below the law. Being a police officer entrusted with protecting our community doesn't give you a license to violate someone and their rights just because you think they're using or selling drugs,” said District Attorney Keaton Forcht.

“If a search warrant is improper, what remedy can you do as a citizen? You can go to court. You can sue them until they know it,” says defense attorney Mac Secrest.

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“There is one person in this world who has the blood of Rhogena Nicholas and Dennis Tuttle on his hands. It is the same hand he raised before Judge Marcum when he smiled and lied. Now he uses the same hand to point at the victims and say it is their fault,” Forcht adds.

“I remember Sergeant Reyna later talking on the street about how this crazy old man was laughing at us while he was shooting at us… The cause of death was Dennis Tuttle and Rhogena Nicholas' failure to comply with officers' orders,” Secrest says.

“Rhogena Nicholas has to tell people who come to the house to buy drugs that the dog is awake. It's the same dog that text messages say she brings with her when she leaves her neighborhood to sell drugs,” says defense attorney Nicole Deborde, and as she shows jurors a mannequin in the tactical police uniform, she adds, “(Rhogena Nicholas) is so close to that uniform while she's screaming MF, MF, MF.”

According to court documents, Nicholas was shot after Tuttle shot at a police officer and the officer fell onto the couch with Nicholas, after which she tried to grab the gun from the officer.

“You can hate Gerald. You don't have to like false testimony, and you can deal with him in other ways, but he is not guilty of murder,” Secrest told the jury.

“Would none of this have happened if it hadn't been for Gerald Goines? The answer is no… He is responsible for the police officers forcibly entering the house at 7815 Harding Street and killing Rhogena Nicholas and Dennis Tuttle,” prosecutor Tanisha Manning told the jury, and those were the last words they heard. With those words, Manning ended her closing argument.

Goines was shot in the face that day.

In addition to deciding whether to find Goines guilty or not guilty of first-degree murder, jurors could also decide to find him guilty only of tampering with an official document.

As soon as the jury reaches a verdict, we will let you know.