Opinion: Houston’s drug-raid scandal grows
By Radley Balko Radley Balko Opinion writer focusing on civil liberties, the drug war and the criminal-justice system Email Bio Follow Opinion writer May 14 at 11:52 AM The scandal over a fatal drug raid earlier this year in Houston appears to be growing. We know that the police lied to obtain a search warrant for the January raid that left two people dead. The cops alleged that the couple were selling heroin out of the house. There was no heroin.
Hired by the relatives of Rhogena Nicholas and Dennis Tuttle, the new forensics team found no signs the pair fired shots at police — and plenty of signs that previous investigators overlooked dozens of pieces of potential evidence in what one expert called a “sloppy” investigation. ... “The initial bullet trajectories appear to be somewhat contradictory,” said Louisiana-based attorney Chuck Bourque, who is also representing the Nicholas family. “We see no evidence that anybody inside the house was firing toward the door.”
But, it appears, it wasn’t until Maloney and his team went in on Friday that anyone systematically went through everything. Maloney’s investigators tested every dark stain and speckle for blood, both human and animal. They dug bullets out of the walls, and measured the holes left behind. They mapped out trajectories, and searched for shrapnel.
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