HPD Harding Street raid: Day 6 of ex-cop Gerald Goines' trial yields surprising testimony from homicide detective

HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) — Day six of the murder trial of former Houston Police Department officer Gerald Goines yielded a surprising testimony in court.

Goines is accused of lying in a no-knock search warrant that led to a botched drug raid in southeast Houston that killed homeowners Rhogena Nicholas and Dennis Tuttle.

Monday, HPD Detective Robert Lujon spent his second full day on the stand. Lujon investigated the botched raid and had been going through crime scene photos one by one for the jury.

At one point in the testimony, a defense attorney asked him if he saw evidence that made this police shooting unjustified out of everything he’d seen, from videos to physical evidence.

Lujon paused on the stand for several seconds, then said, “No.”

Although it’s just one moment in a long trial, attorney Murray Newman says it could be significant for the defense.

“Basically, what they’re trying to do on the defense side of things is, at the end of the day, are these deaths caused by the two complainants’ own actions? Did they basically play the cards that resulted in their own deaths,” explained Newman. “Obviously, the state is still going to get into the information about what led them there in the first place, but this is a pretty big skunk in the jury box at this point.”

Prosecutors had pointed out that it was one of the HPD narcotics officers who fired first, killing the couple’s dog, Star, at the beginning of the raid.

That led to gunfire by both police and Tuttle. They also said from opening statements that if Goines had not lied to obtain the no-knock warrant in the first place, both Rhogena Nicholas and Dennis Tuttle would still be alive.

The trial is expected to continue on Tuesday with a Texas Ranger on the stand. Both sides said it could wrap up in a few days, even though it was initially thought it might still last several weeks.

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