Decades of Corruption, Hundreds of Cases May be Affected



photo of Officer Gerald Goines
Gerald Goines booking photo

Steven Mallet Released from Jail, Declared Innocent

After 11 years, Steven Mallet has been released from jail. Mallet and his brother were sent to jail on the direct testimony of Houston Police Officer Gerald Goines. Officer Goines said that he had conducted a drug deal with the Mallet brothers.

The brothers both denied that had ever occurred. Otis always maintained his innocence but Steven agreed to a plea deal that was supposed to let him out with time served. He had been in jail for 10 months at that point. This is very common. People plead guilty just to get out of jail. But Steven Mallet wasn’t released from jail. Mallet’s case is one of hundreds that are being reviewed by the Harris County District Attorney’s Office to determine if they were handled in appropriately now that they know a corrupt police officer was fabricating evidence.

The Corruption Begins to Unravel

In July of 2019, two people were killed in a botched drug raid in Houston, Texas. While looking into the deaths of Rhogena Nicholas and her husband Dennis Tuttle (a disabled Navy veteran), questions quickly began to emerge. Goines said that he had made a drug buy from the location and that’s what he used to justify requesting the no-knock warrant. However, during the investigation, the GPS on Goines’ cell phone was checked and showed he had not been in the area at all at the time when he claimed it occurred. Multiple inconsistencies began to emerge resulting in Goines and another officer, Steven Bryant, being arrested on November 20.

Immediate Aftermath of the Shooting

After the police killed Nicholas and Tuttle, the Houston Police Officers’ Union showed support for Goines in an aggressive and threatening speech. The union president, Joe Gamaldi, said, “We are sick and tired of having dirtbags trying to take our lives when all we’re trying to do is protect this community and protect our families. If you’re the ones that are out there spreading the rhetoric that police officers are the enemy, just know we’ve all got your number now, we’re going to be keeping track of all of y’all, and we’re going to make sure that we hold you accountable every time you stir the pot on our police officers.”

The union covered Goines’ legal fees for several months then quietly withdrew their support. Apparently they came to realize that the real dirt bag was Officer Goines and not the disabled veteran, and his wife, who were killed.

Long-Term Corruption

As the Harris County District Attorney’s Office began investigating every case that Goines had been involved with they began to find more and more problems. The cases on the Mallet brothers was just the tip of the iceberg. Different articles have given different numbers regarding the cases that have been reviewed. The differences could be on any case Goines was involved in and cases that Goines was primary or a main contributor on. ABC13.com seems to have the most exact numbers with cases Goines was primary on. According to them, “out of 441 cases involving Goines, 263 cases resulted in convictions of 234 defendants.”

To show how low Goines has sunk, the prosecutor who is in charge of the review of the cases, Josh Reiss, said, “There are 263 convictions where if someone files a claim for relief, and Gerald Goines played a substantial role in that conviction, we’re going to assume he lied.”

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *