Former Houston police officer charged with murder after drug raid

A former Houston police officer has been charged with murder for allegedly lied to justify the warrants for a drug raid that killed two people and injured five policemen, the prosecutor said Friday.

Former narcotics officer Gerald Goines allegedly fabricated information in order to obtain search warrants, finding that suspects in a house were selling black tar heroin. The raid resulted in a shooting that killed the two occupants of the house, Dennis Tuttle, 59, and Rhogena Nicholas, 58, and their dog.

Goines was charged with murder, while his former partner, Steven Bryant, was accused of altering a government record, Harris County attorneys said.

"Under Texas law, if, during the commission of a crime, in this case, a person spoils a government record, she commits an act obviously dangerous to human life … causing the death of Another, in his case two dead, first-degree murder, "Harris County Attorney Kim Ogg told reporters.

"We call this murder a crime, and today we have charged Gerald Goines with two counts of murder for crime."

The two former officers were to surrender on Friday. Prosecutors will ask for a bail of $ 250,000 for Goines and $ 100,000 for Bryant, Ogg said.

Police documents indicate that the mandate for the Harding Street home was justified by claims that a confidential informant would have bought heroin in that locality and seen a weapon. The investigators who were trying to find this informant were given two names by Goines, one of the five officers injured during the raid.

Both informants denied having worked on this case or bought drugs at this address.

Goines later admitted that there was no confidential informant and that it was he who had bought the drugs, according to the prosecutors.

"The interview was recorded," Ogg said. "He replied in writing."

Bryant was accused of making false statements after the raids to cover Goines, prosecutors said.

Both officers retired later.

"The eyes of this community and the nation are on this matter," Ogg said. "It is essential for public trust that we disclose the truth about what, how and why two civilians were killed in their own homes by members of the Houston Police Narcotics Group."

The family and friends of Tuttle and Nicholas have always maintained that both drugs were never sold. Small amounts of marijuana and cocaine were found in the house, but no heroin.

At a community meeting in February, Houston Police Chief Art Acevedo pledged to end the practice of "no-strike" search warrants. He added that the officers will have to request a special waiver from his office to proceed with an unbroken raid.

Ogg announced in February that the office would examine more than 1,400 criminal cases covering several decades of career in Goines. Prosecutors said in April that 27 of these cases, which were pending at the time, would be closed.