HOUSTON (AP) — A former Houston police officer was sentenced to 60 years in prison on Tuesday for the murder of a married couple during a drug raid that
Former Houston Police officer Gerald Gaines listens to closing arguments in the punishment phase of his felony murder trial on Monday, Oct. 7, 2024 in Houston. Goines was found guilty of felony murder in the 2019 deaths of Dennis Tuttle and Rhogena Nicholas. HOUSTON — A former Houston police officer was sentenced to 60 years in prison on Tuesday for the murder of a married couple during a drug raid that revealed systemic corruption in the department’s narcotics unit.
The probe into the drug raid uncovered allegations of much wider corruption. Goines was among a dozen officers tied to the narcotics squad who were indicted on other charges. Defense attorney Nicole DeBorde asked jurors for the minimum sentence of five years, saying Goines had dedicated his life to keeping drugs off the streets. “Our community is safer with someone like Gerald, with the heart to serve and the heart to care,” she said.
During the monthlong trial, prosecutors said Goines falsely claimed an informant had bought heroin at the couple’s home from a man with a gun, setting up the violent confrontation in which the couple was killed and four officers, including Goines, were shot and wounded, and a fifth was injured. Investigators later found only small amounts of marijuana and cocaine in the house, and while Houston’s police chief at the time, Art Acevedo, initially praised Goines as being “tough as nails,” he later suspended him when the lies emerged. Goines later retired as the probes continued.
One of the people wrongfully convicted based on Goines’ false testimony, Otis Mallet, told jurors that what Goines had done to him “traumatically disturbed” his life.
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