Former Houston police officer convicted of killing couple during drug raid

During the trial, which began on September 9, prosecutors presented testimony and evidence that they said showed Goines lied to obtain a search warrant that falsely portrayed the couple as dangerous drug dealers.

In his closing argument, prosecutor Keaton Forcht said Goines' actions mistakenly led officers to the couple's home, resulting in a violent confrontation in which the couple were killed and four officers were shot and wounded, while a fifth was injured.

While Goines' lawyers acknowledged that the former cop lied to get the search warrant, they downplayed the impact of his false statements. They said his actions did not warrant a murder conviction and that he was overcharged. Nicole DeBorde, one of Goines' lawyers, portrayed the couple as armed drug users and said they were responsible for their own deaths by shooting at police officers who entered their home.

The couple was killed along with their dog when police entered their home with a no-knock search warrant and officers were not required to announce themselves before entering.

Prosecutors said Goines falsely claimed an informant bought heroin from an armed man at the couple's home. Goines later changed his statement and claimed he bought the drugs himself, but authorities said that was also a lie. After the raid, investigators said they found only small amounts of marijuana and cocaine in the house.

During the trial, Jeff Wolf, a Texas Ranger who investigated the shooting, testified that the officers fired first when they entered the home and shot the couple's dog. Wolf said the gunshots and Nicholas' screams likely led the officers to Tuttle coming out of his bedroom and opening fire on the officers. Goines' attorneys said the officers identified themselves before entering the home, but Wolf testified that the couple may never have heard this before gunfire erupted.

Goines' lawyers argued during the trial that Tuttle, not police officers, shot someone else first. Prosecutors blamed Goines for the shootout between Tuttle and the police officers.

An officer involved in the raid and the judge who approved the search warrant testified that the raid would never have taken place if they had known that Goines had lied to get the search warrant.

The investigation into the drug raid also revealed allegations of systematic corruption.

A dozen drug agents who conducted the raid, including Goines, were later charged in a corruption investigation. In June, a judge dismissed the charges against some of them.

Since the raid, prosecutors have reviewed thousands of cases handled by the drug agency.

The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals has overturned at least 22 convictions related to Goines, who was also charged in federal court.

Another Goines-related case that remains under scrutiny is the 2004 arrest of George Floyd in Houston on drug charges. His death at the hands of a Minnesota police officer in 2020 sparked a national reckoning over racism in policing. A Texas committee in 2022 rejected a request to grant Floyd a posthumous pardon for his drug conviction stemming from his arrest by Goines.

The families of Tuttle and Nicholas have filed civil rights lawsuits against Goines and 12 other officers involved in the raid, as well as the city of Houston, with a trial scheduled for November.

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