During closing arguments in Gerald Goines' murder trial on Tuesday, Harris County Assistant District Attorney Keaton Forcht urged jurors to hold the former Houston narcotics officer responsible for the deaths of Dennis Tuttle and Rhogena Nicholas, who were killed in a 2019 drug raid that Goines instigated by describing a heroin purchase that never happened. "Just because you have a badge doesn't mean you're above the law," Forcht said.
Goines targeted Tuttle and Nicholas based on 911 calls from a neighbor, Patricia Garcia, who described them as armed and dangerous drug dealers who had sold her daughter heroin. Garcia, who did not even have a daughter, later admitted she had made the whole thing up, pleading guilty to federal charges related to her false reports.
