Attorneys for ex-HPD officer call for new murder trial, claiming victim's cellphone was withheld
HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) -- Attorneys for former Houston police officer Gerald Goines -- convicted of murder in the botched Harding Street raid -- say their client deserves a new trial.
Jurors found Goines guilty of murdering a couple under the guise of a narcotics takedown based on a lie back in September, and the 61-year-old was sentenced to 60 years in prison last month.
Over five years ago, on Jan. 28, 2019, a fake 911 call resulted in a no-knock warrant from HPD's narcotics squad at the home of husband and wife Dennis Tuttle and Rhogena Nicholas. The Harding Street raid left Tuttle, Nicholas, and their dog dead from a rain of police gunfire in their own southeast Houston home.
Goines -- the lead HPD agent involved in the raid -- lied on an affidavit to obtain the initial no-knock warrant, claiming the couple was dealing heroin.
His attorneys' argument for a new trial centers on a cellphone that belonged to Tuttle. They are accusing civil attorneys of withholding the phone, which they believe could have been a vital piece of evidence in the trial.
According to our partners at the Houston Chronicle, a judge ordered the Texas Department of Criminal Justice officials to bring Goines from the Pack Unit in Navasota to Harris County for a hearing over why Tuttle's cellphone went to civil attorneys for their own litigation, rather than the Harris County District Attorney's Office.
If Goines' defense team had been given the phone, they would have likely searched it for evidence.
Goines' lawyer, Nicole DeBorde Hochglaube, alleged the civil lawyers shared a large number of records with prosecutors early in the case but withheld the phone.
The hearing over whether he will get a new trial is set for Dec. 4. Defense attorneys issued a subpoena to obtain the phone.
Prosecutors had already requested Goines return to court that week for additional charges related to the Harding Street raid, including tampering.
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