Prosecutors could seek death penalty for Houston officer in botched drug raid

Former HPD officer Gerald Goines in court before turning himself in, August 23, 2019, in Houston. He was involved in the botched drug raid. Former HPD officer Gerald Goines in court before turning himself in, August 23, 2019, in Houston. He was involved in the botched drug raid. Photo: Karen Warren, Houston Chronicle / Staff Photographer Photo: Karen Warren, Houston Chronicle / Staff Photographer Image 1 of / 36 Caption Close Prosecutors could seek death penalty for Houston officer in botched drug raid 1 / 36 Back to Gallery

The Houston narcotics officer at the center of a botched raid has been charged under a federal law that allows prosecutors to seek the death penalty if they can show the deadly search he planned was “unreasonable, unnecessary and unprovoked.”

Among seven federal criminal charges in his indictment, Gerald Goines is accused of willfully violating the constitutional rights of homeowners Rhogena Nicholas and Dennis Tuttle, who were killed in the Jan. 28 raid that turned into a gun battle. If the raid happened “under color of law,” prosecutors could ask the court to consider the death penalty, according to federal law.

Wyn Hornbuckle, spokesman for U.S. Attorney General’s office in Washington, D.C. declined to comment on whether such a charge was under consideration.

Investigators say 55-year-old Goines made up an informant and lied in his application for a search warrant and other documents in preparation for the bust of the couple’s home on Harding Street. Police said they were looking for heroin dealers when they burst into the couple’s house. Authorities only turned up small amounts of marijuana and cocaine.

Goines’ lawyer, Nicole Deborde called the allegations “extremely serious,” but said she has had no indication prosecutors would seek the death penalty for her client.

“I don’t think it would be reasonable,” she said. “It would be preposterous.”

She noted that prosecutors say the couple died as part of this police action and said it is a stretch to say Goines caused their deaths.

“There’s no allegation that he ever discharged a weapon,” Deborde said “I don’t think people understand that.”

The portion of the criminal civil rights law employed in this case is rarely pursued and the death penalty is rarely sought, according to Sean Buckley, a Houston criminal lawyer who wrote a book on the federal code.

A 2014 legislative analysis by the Congressional Research Service found that to secure a conviction under this provision, prosecutors must show an intent to violate federal rights by someone acting “under color of law” — in their capacity as a law enforcement officer — and “that the force was unreasonable, unnecessary, and unprovoked.”

The umbrella of federal criminal civil rights statutes includes capital punishment for a series of hate crimes based on the race, color, religion and national origin of victims and arson at places of worship. It also covers violence against health care providers, trafficking people for enslavement or forced labor. The portion used in the Goines case addresses offenders causing harm when acting “under color of any law” in an official capacity.

The decision to seek the death penalty on the allegations involving the slain couple would be made by Attorney General William Barr with input from Houston prosecutors and investigators, according to Justice Department protocol. For example, in the Rio Grande Valley when a smuggler leaves a person to die in the brush or a car chase that ends in deaths, main justice officials in Washington, D.C. make the call about the death penalty.

Seeking the death penalty in any federal court case is rare and it is especially unusual under the civil rights law, said Buckley, who practices in the Houston courthouse and has studied the criminal code. He said Len Davis, a police officer convicted of killing a witness against him in an internal affairs investigation in Louisiana, is the only law enforcement officer to have been sentenced to death under federal law for a federal civil rights offense.

gabrielle.banks@chron.com