Cop in botched raid appears in court
Ex-officer pleads not guilty to federal charges in fatal operation; judge yet to decide on bail
The former Houston police officer at the center of a botched drug raid that claimed the lives of two homeowners lied repeatedly about casework, was having sex with his informant and had loose drugs and a stolen gun in his car, prosecutors arguing for no bail told a federal judge Friday.
During the lengthy detention hearing, prosecutors revealed a raft of new allegations against 55year-old former narcotics officer Gerald Goines and provided the clearest picture yet about the timeline surrounding the January raid that killed homeowners Rhogena Nicholas and Dennis Tuttle.
Goines pleaded not guilty at the hearing, which included testimony from Elyse Lanier, widow of late Mayor Bob Lanier, who described the officer as a “man of integrity.” She said she considered him a family member, as he had worked as her their driver and bodyguard for years.
“He follows the rules,” she said. “He is a man of honesty and integrity . ... He is not a murderer.”
Goines is charged with violating Tuttle and Nicholas’ rights against unreasonable search and seizure, fabricating official documents and lying about informants. He appeared in court shackled and wearing a green jail jumpsuit and said little. More than half a dozen supporters appeared in court to testify to his character, including his wife, Tiffany, and Lanier.
“The weight of the of evidence against Goines is vast and growing,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Alamdar Hamdani said as he urged U.S. Magistrate Judge Dena Hanovice Palermo not to allow Goines to walk out of the courthouse.
Goines, he said, had repeatedly broken the law, abused the power of his position and would likely continue to do so if he were allowed out of federal custody. Hamdani called Goines a “flight risk” because of the former officer’s age and the fact that if convicted of the federal charges, he would likely spent the rest of his life — or most of it — in prison.
Houston police received three
calls from Patricia Garcia on Jan. 8, FBI Special Agent O’Neil Brown testified. Garcia told them falsely that her daughter was doing drugs in Tuttle’s home. She said Tuttle owned machine guns and that he and Nicholas were drug dealers.
“They were not drug dealers,” Brown said.
Goines and nearly two dozen police officers raided the home. Shortly before being shot, Tuttle yelled “I told you there were no drugs here.”
“Shots were fired and an officer was shot,” Brown said. “A subsequent officer would go to rescue the officer who was shot. … That officer was shot as well.”
Brown also testified that Goines lied repeatedly in the search warrant affidavit and about using a confidential informant to buy heroin from Tuttle’s home. When police began investigating, he gave them the name of one CI, and then another. Investigators spoke with all of his CI’s, all of whom denied buying drugs at 7815 Harding Street.
“There was no confidential informant,” Brown added.
While in the hospital, Goines changed his story again, telling investigators that he had purchased the drugs himself.
Goines had obtained heroin from a confidential informant who went to a home on Napoleon Street — miles away from Harding Street — on Jan. 21 with a friend. Her friend bought the drugs, Brown said. Goines was not present during that drug transaction but picked them up two days later at his informant’s home.
Brown said Goines then lied repeatedly when he applied for a search warrant for the home on Napoleon Street, when he said he obtained crack cocaine from the house, not heroin.
In testimony, Brown said Goines’ CI later told investigators she met with Goines on Jan. 26, and they had sex.
“How long had she been in a sexual relationship with her handler?” Hamdani asked.
“She claimed for several years,” Brown replied, adding that investigators corroborated the allegation with photos of the CI on Goines’ phone and video surveillance of him without other officers at her home late at night.
When Goines’ defense attorney Nicole DeBorde challenged the agent, asking if an officer might have a picture of an informant on his phone, Brown replied, “I believe they were on the steamier side.”
Hamdani also revealed that while Goines lied about a 9 mm at the Tuttle home, investigators found a stolen handgun in his car and a box filled with loose narcotics and bagged narcotics, including crack cocaine, marijuana and ecstasy.
Brown said investigators are looking into other search warrants where CIs claimed they had not made controlled buys that Goines listed in his affidavits.
DeBorde stressed in court that Goines had received bail on the state charges he faces, which include two counts of felony murder.
He has cooperated with every condition currently imposed on him, she said.
DeBorde countered prosecutors’ arguments by saying the government wanted to believe a “very salacious story,” which didn’t make sense.
“If the court system thinks about why on earth any of this makes sense, I suggest that you’ll come up empty,” she said. “What on earth does this man have to gain from that scenario?”
She sought testimony from a bail bondswoman, who said that Goines cooperated with all their requirements — and that they would pay for a federal bail, if the judge granted it.
Palermo did not rule immediately when DeBorde and Hamdani finished their arguments.
“This is a very difficult decision,” she said. “And I’m going to take it under advisement.”