Charges have been dropped against 39-year-old Roy Herbert Willis, who was charged with two counts possession after embattled former Houston cop Gerald Goines assisted a team that executed a warrant against him.
Houston prosecutors moved to dismiss Willis’ two cases, which were not related to the botched raid at 7815 Harding St. on January 28, on Friday, according to MySanAntonio.
“In the interest of justice, the ongoing investigation of Gerald Goines prevents us from moving forward to trial on this case at this time,” Dane Schiller, with the district attorney’s office, said.
“The investigation could yield information that we are not yet aware of that could be helpful to the accused.”
One of the charges against Willis that was dismissed was for less than a gram of cocaine and the other was for between four and 400 grams of methamphetamine.
Willis’ defense attorney Monique Sparks said she’s had previous dealings with Goines and has viewed him as a problem for several years.
“He’s been terrorizing low-income areas for years,” she said.
“Since I started practicing in 2006.
Two men were charged with evading arrest, and a third with a low-level marijuana case, in the same bust that netted Willis’ arrest.
The two defendants in the evading cases served 20 days and 9 months.
In the marijuana case, the defendant pleaded guilty and served two days in jail.
Goines came under scrutiny earlier this year after being accused of lying in a sworn affidavit used to justify the raid on Harding Street.
Houston officers kicked down the door without knocking, which led to a shootout that left Navy veteran Dennis Tuttle and his wife Rhogena Nicholas dead.
Officers entered the home searching for “heroine dealers,” but the raid only turned up a small amount of marijuana and a small amount of white powder.
The slain couple’s family, friends, and neighbors all came forward to say they weren’t drug dealers.
A few days later, as Goines lay recovering in the hospital from a gunshot wound to his neck, investigators began to realize they couldn’t locate the confidential informant behind the drug buy.
After investigating, police failed to locate any informant that warranted the raid on Harding.
That revelations prompted not only a police probe, but an investigation by the FBI as well.
Houston prosecutors have launched their own investigation and are currently reviewing roughly 1,400 of Giones’ cases, 27 of which are still active.
Prosecutors are also investigating over 800 cases handled by officer Steven Bryant, who worked as Goines’ partner for several years.
Both Bryant and Goines have retired since the incident.