When she’d made the call, she wasn’t in her right mind, she told U.S. Judge George C. Hanks. She’d made a bad decision. She’d never meant for police to storm the house of Dennis Tuttle and Rhogena Nicholas weeks later, and turn their home into a shooting gallery, killing them.

“I’m so sorry for my 911 call,” she said. “And the false calls I made.”

Hanks was unmoved. He didn’t believe her, he said.

Hanks sentenced Garcia to 40 months in federal prison, and three years supervised release, significantly more than the 10 to 16 months imprisonment and home confinement for which Garcia’s public defender had argued.

“There’s no question in my mind, Ms. Garcia, in that you wanted something bad to happen to (Tuttle and Nicholas),” Hanks said, explaining his decision. “You didn’t really care what happened, and respectfully, the court can’t condone that.”

RELATED: Lawyer of Houston police officer charged in Harding Street murder blasts DA Kim Ogg

Garcia’s sentencing by videoconference — which took hours and was plagued by technical difficulties — comes more than two years after the Jan. 8, 2019, phone calls that brought Houston police to 7815 Harding St. and set in motion the fatal raid on Tuttle’s home three weeks later. It is the first sentencing in the scandal, which captured national headlines on Jan. 28, 2019, when a team of narcotics officers broke into the home. The operation immediately devolved into gunfire, claiming the lives of Tuttle and Nicholas and leaving five officers injured, one paralyzed from the neck down.

In the ensuing years, the scandal has only grown. Police, prosecutors and FBI agents all began investigating. And while they investigated Garcia’s lie, they discovered a much bigger lie: that the officer who led the raid, Gerald Goines, had never bought drugs from 7815 Harding St. — and that he appeared to have lied about years of arrests going as far back as 2008. Goines — who has since retired — is now charged with murder, as is another officer.

All told, 12 police officers now stand charged with various crimes, in federal and state court, including 10 for padding their overtime. And local prosecutors have declared Goines a liar, reviewing 11 years of his past cases, and reversing four convictions thus far. But one former Goines defendant from 1991 has filed paperwork claiming he was wrongly convicted, a move that could force prosecutors to question the majority of Goines’ career.

‘An operation completely out of control’: Damning HPD narcotics audit reveals hundreds of errors

Garcia has been in custody since Dec. 4, 2020, after she was arrested for violating conditions of her bond. She faced up to five years in prison. She was the first person associated with the case to plead guilty, in March. Her sentencing Tuesday comes a week after Goines’ former partner, Steven Bryant, pleaded guilty in federal court to falsifying records to impede the investigation into the scandal.

Garcia’s public defender, Marjorie Meyers, said Garcia had a long-term dispute with Nicholas, and made the calls in the fog of cocaine and alcohol use. But she argued that Garcia was not responsible for the actions of “rogue officers” who raided Tuttle’s home, and that she deserved a sentence of 10 to 16 months, with home confinement.

“She is sorry what happened to her neighbors,” Meyers said, arguing Garcia had shown remorse by seeking out treatment and other programs while in federal detention.

Bryant — who is cooperating with authorities — is set for sentencing in August.

Relatives of Tuttle and Nicholas, meanwhile, have waged lengthy court fight seeking answers and accountability for the debacle that cost the couple their lives. Mike Doyle, attorney for Nicholas’ relatives, called the sentencing a “small step forward,” but said the Houston Police Department has yet to address many significant problems uncovered since the shooting.

“The central questions of the city’s two-year, million-dollar cover-up of the killings of Rhogena Nicholas and Dennis Tuttle remain unanswered: What happened, before and after the HPD murderous raid?” he said.

“The Nicholas family and public still need answers from the mayor and the police chief,” Doyle said.

Case review: Lawyers say man was wrongly convicted in 1991 in case handled by now-disgraced former narcotics officer Goines

After Bryant pleaded guilty, Harris County prosecutors dropped the charges he was facing in state court. In the 18 months following the former officers’ arrests, Harris County District Attorney Kim Ogg also announced charges against 10 other current and former police officers, including a murder charge against officer Felipe Gallegos and aggregate theft of overtime by Goines, Bryant, retired sergeants Clemente Reyna and Thomas Wood and retired officers Hodgie Armstrong, Cedell Lovings and Griff Maxwell.

Current officers Nadeem Ashraf, Oscar Pardo and Frank Medina also are charged with aggregate overtime theft. Former Narcotics Lt. Robert Gonzales was also charged with one count of misappropriation of fiduciary responsibility.

Garcia was not responsible for all of that, Judge Hanks said. But her actions had amounted to a clear case of “SWAT-ing,” he said. Garcia had spoken with police several times that night, upping the ante every time.

And her behavior after the shooting — including continued substance abuse and callous disregard for the tragedy that befell Tuttle and Nicholas — showed a lack of remorse, he said.

“What did you think was going to happen?” he said. “This wasn’t a run-of-the-mill hoax, it was a very serious 911 call made to police with intent of harming their neighbors.”

st.john.smith@chron.com