Former HPD officer who led botched raid now on house arrest
HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) -- One of the two former Houston police officers charged in a deadly, botched narcotics raid was released from federal custody on bond Thursday morning.
Gerald Goines, 55, was granted bond Wednesday.
Goines was arrested by the FBI last month on seven federal indictments related to the raid that killed Rhogena Nicholas and her husband Dennis Tuttle in their home at 7815 Harding St. last January.
Wednesday afternoon, a judge granted Goines a $150,000 unsecured bond, which stipulated his release to home confinement. Goines previously agreed to a number of conditions related to home confinement. Among them, he would have to wear an ankle monitor and can only leave the house for medical and legal appointments.
In the federal court system, Goines faces civil rights charges and stands accused of depriving the victims of their constitutional right to be secure against unreasonable searches.
Goines has also been charged with two counts of first-degree murder in state district court. He is currently out on bond for those state charges. He's accused of lying to get a search warrant to go into the victims' home.
Steven Bryant, 46, is the second former HPD officer facing charges in the Jan. 28 raid.
A 53-year-old woman named Patricia Garcia has also been arrested in connection with the raid. Garcia is accused of conveying false information by making several fake 911 calls.
The charge specifically stems from Jan. 8, when Garcia made several calls claiming her daughter was inside the home on Harding, according to the indictment. Garcia is accused of saying Tuttle and Nicholas were addicts, drug dealers and that they had guns, including machine guns, inside their home.
Garcia faces five years in prison, if convicted.
Goines is charged with felony murder under state law and has been charged with civil rights violations under federal law.
Bryant is charged with tampering with a government record under state law and now has also been charged federally with obstructing justice by falsifying records.
Additionally, Michael Patrick Doyle of Doyle LLP, the legal counsel Nicholas' family, offered this statement:
"The Nicholas family respects the court's consideration of all the issues in making a decision to permit bail. However, considering the terrible crimes of which Mr. Goines is accused, the Nicholas family believes the community safer in the ongoing investigations better protected if he remains in jail pending trial."
According to friends, Tuttle and Nicholas were not the hardcore heroin dealers as described in the now-debunked search warrants.
Goines' actions, Harris County District Attorney Kim Ogg said back in August, are what caused the deaths of Nicholas and Tuttle.
"I absolutely believe he was overcharged," DeBorde has said. "I firmly believe that Mr. Goines is innocent of any crime and we look forward to defending this case vigorously in court."
SEE ALSO: Botched HPD raid: Officer charged with 2 counts of murder
Court records show prosecutors see the case very differently. According to the charging document, officers received a 911 call relating to people using drugs at 7815 Harding with a person named "Reggie." That was earlier in the day on Jan. 8, 2019. Later on in the day, two patrol officers responded to the call, but observed no sign of criminal activity at the Harding Street house.
Records show the patrol officer who responded then wrote the information related to her call on a yellow legal pad and turned it over to the narcotics division.
That is how former officer Goines allegedly became aware of a possible drug case at the Harding Street location.
Court records show prosecutors do not believe Goines followed any of the protocol in conducting a standard police investigation between the tip and the raid. In court documents, they alleged that there was never a confidential informant, as detailed in the original warrant. They also allege that in interviews following the raid, Goines said he actually personally made the purchase of the drugs. In addition, they state Goines admitted to providing false information to a magistrate judge in order to secure the "no-knock" warrant.
"We have had an open line of communication. We have not received any information from the government on any of their activities," said DeBorde.
Meanwhile, prosecutors have said the other officer, Bryant, falsely submitted a document about drugs found on Harding Street two days after the raid already happened. Prosecutors allege Bryant retrieved some heroin from Goines' car on Jan. 30, then wrote up the drugs as evidence in the Harding Street raid, and submitted to the police department.
However, court records show Bryant admitted to investigators that he never participated in the narcotics investigation at 7815 Harding, and that he admitted to making "a mistake" in the collection of the drugs.
"This is a very tough situation for him as it is with any citizen accused of a crime," said Bryant's attorney Andy Drumheller. "This is a person who, when he was an officer and involved in the Harding Street (case), was not involved in drafting the search warrant, never entered the home, and never fired a weapon."
Bryant's case will eventually move to the same court as Goines.
WATCH: Officers Goines and Bryant released from jail
FULL VIDEO: District Attorney Kim Ogg announces the Harding Street raid charges
CASES LINKED TO GOINES DISMISSED
- Trevon Cornett's case involving HPD Officer Gerald Goines dismissed
- Man claims 2 officers at center of Harding St. HPD raid terrorized his neighborhood
- Woman arrested by HPD officer Gerald Goines gets case dismissed
MORE ON THE JAN. 28, 2019 HPD RAID:
- New deadly raid evidence sheds doubt on HPD investigation: attorneys
- HPD announces new oversight and revisions after deadly raid
- HPD officer at center of controversial raid shot twice before
- HPD union president responds to new information after warrant reveals informant allegedly lied
- Informant didn't buy drugs from suspects killed in police shootout
- HPD DRUG RAID TIMELINE: Before the raid to now
