Former HPD officer charged with murder in botched raid at Harding Street house

Houston Chronicle ^ | August 23, 2019 | St. John Barned-Smith and Keri Blakinger

[Forgotten Amendments]

...Ogg said that as investigators probed the case, they determined that Goines first lied about using a confidential informant to buy heroin; then claimed to have bought the drugs himself; then lied about who identified the drugs; and finally admitted that he couldn’t determine whether Tuttle was the same person from whom he allegedly purchased the drugs....

[Forgotten Amendments]

Unlike most murder charges for cops, it seems like they REALLY DO want to nail this guy. Makes me wonder what he knows and who will skate when he takes the fall.

I used to think people like me were paranoid authority haters. Like that was a bad thing ...

[House Atreides]

This is VERY good news, thanks for posting.

[deport]

Ex-case agent Gerald Goines on Friday was charged with two counts of felony murder
in the Jan. 28 deaths of Dennis Tuttle and Rhogena Nicholas and is still under
investigation over claims he stole guns, drugs and money, Harris County District
Attorney Kim Ogg announced at a news conference downtown. His partner, Steven
Bryant, was charged with one count of evidence tampering, a state jail felony.

[gaijin]

Nice to see justice in this case, finally, but ya know what?

I rememember when word of this shooting fiiiiirst broke here at FR, and WHAT, do you think, was the first boot-licking reaction, huh..?

“Hey, ya don’t wanna get killed? Don’t SELL DRUGS..!! Ahahahahhah...!”

People chimed in, in allll manner of nasty ways like that.

Quiiiiiite a very different tune, now, I see.

[PAR35]

Boot lickers will probably show up at some point.

This one was looking dirty pretty early on, however.

[deport]

Former officers Gerald Goines (left) and Steven Bryant (right) appear in a Houston courtroom on Aug. 23, 2019.

Gerald Goines has been charged with two counts of murder
Bryant is accused of lying in a supplemental report

[gaijin]

Houston PD drug raid murder ping

[orionrising]

I am going with the early theory on this one. Botched address. Cops were being lazy and raiding drug houses without bothering to do the policework first and got the address wrong on this one.

Currently appears the raid team shot eachother, and there is now video purportedly with the sounds of two shots 30 minutes after the raid. And the supposed suspects gun appears to be MIA.

Murder charges seem appropriate.

[sport]

They always do. It is a little early. like someone said, this one stunk from the beginning.

[Zhang Fei]

[I am going with the early theory on this one. Botched address. Cops were being lazy and raiding drug houses without bothering to do the policework first and got the address wrong on this one.]

---

Agreed. It’s not even a question of ambition. When people screw up big time in a case like this, it can result in manslaughter charges. Hence the cover-up from start to finish by the people in the squad. I think the murder rap is overcharging - negligent homicide/manslaughter seems more apt. Unless the cop finished the victims off upon the realization that he had screwed up, as part of the ensuing coverup.

[CurlyDave]

... I think the murder rap is overcharging - negligent homicide/manslaughter seems more apt. Unless the cop finished the victims off upon the realization that he had screwed up, as part of the ensuing coverup...

Any cop comes to my house and kills me and my wife in a "botched" raid, the bottom line is that we are still dead, and he deserves to fry. Baked in a slow oven would be even better, but he should fry.

[Honest Nigerian]

dear Zhang
did you read the article?
“Because the deaths occurred in the course of another alleged felony — tampering with a government record — Goines was charged with felony murder.”
Seems like you are just being plain lazy (not that there is anything wrong with that) as there are some other useful/relevant details in the article.

[Vendome]

Hang him and the jackasses that sent him...

[a fool in paradise]

Police chief and others were originally part of the coverup. Story didn’t go away. Too many ugly truths.

[a fool in paradise]

Lied in their filings. Same with the Obama investigation of Trump.

[a fool in paradise]

the coverup of their own crimes (falsified paperwork leading to the raid and after the event) puts it in the murder camp.

If 2 thugs rob a store and one gets shot, his buddy gets charged with murder because the death came from his crime.

[Zhang Fei]

[Seems like you are just being plain lazy (not that there is anything wrong with that) as there are some other useful/relevant details in the article.]

---

You’re right. I skipped the article and forgot about the concept of felony murder where, if you unlawfully do something inherently dangerous (i.e. mount a drug raid and then cover up* the fact that you screwed up the address of the target), and unintentionally kill someone, that’s considered a form of murder. It’s a legislative dodge, strict liability applied to criminal homicide to transform it into murder, that I think will eventually be overturned by a judge. For now, though, this cop is in really hot water.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Felony_murder_rule

* Another way of putting this is that if he had come clean after the operation, his career would be shot, but there would be a lesser criminal charge such as negligent homicide.

[NobleFree]

Boot lickers will probably show up at some point.

Not of their own free will. Now, if somebody went to the effort of collecting names from the earlier threads and pinging them here, that could be entertaining ...

[NobleFree]

I rememember when word of this shooting fiiiiirst broke here at FR, and WHAT, do you think, was the first boot-licking reaction, huh..?

“Hey, ya don’t wanna get killed? Don’t SELL DRUGS..!! Ahahahahhah...!”

People chimed in, in allll manner of nasty ways like that.

Judging from http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/3724357/posts that was largely the work of Kazan.

[Kazan]

Now, you lying turd, you're attributing a comment I never made. I never commented on whether or not they were selling drugs, only whether or not the police acted in self-defense.

Only someone incredibly stupid thinks the loser couple should have unleashed a pit bull on police officers or engaged them in a shootout. That's a way to end up dead. They deserve ZERO sympathy.