Christian, Antoine Leon AKA Christian, Reginald Jerome

• Court: Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas
• Decided: March 12, 2025
• Docket: WR-39,987-04
• Status: Published

Opinion

IN THE COURT OF CRIMINAL APPEALS OF TEXAS NO. WR-39,987-04

EX PARTE REGINALD JEROME CHRISTIAN AKA ANTOINE LEON CHRISTIAN, Applicant

ON APPLICATION FOR A WRIT OF HABEAS CORPUS CAUSE NO. 1093011-A IN THE 184TH DISTRICT COURT FROM HARRIS COUNTY

Per curiam.

OPINION

Applicant was convicted of possession of a controlled substance and sentenced to two years

and nine months’ imprisonment. In this post-conviction application for writ of habeas corpus,

Applicant alleges that his plea was involuntary because he did not know that Officer Gerald Goines,

an investigating officer involved in his case, had engaged in misconduct in other cases. We filed and

set the case for submission to determine:

(1) Was Gerald Goines’s conduct in this case the type of misconduct that gives rise to

an inference of falsity under Ex parte Mathews, 638 S.W.3d 685 (Tex. Crim. App.

2022)?; 2

(2) Assuming an inference of falsity under Mathews applies, do the facts of this case

rebut that inference of falsity?; and

(3) Assuming an inference of falsity applies and was not rebutted by the facts of this

case, was the false evidence provided by Gerald Goines material to Applicant’s guilty

plea?

This Court ultimately determined that Applicant had failed to establish the applicability of

the inference of falsity under Mathews because Applicant’s case does not involve the type of

misconduct that gives rise to an inference of falsity. Ex parte Christian, __ S.W.3d __, 2024 WL

4281127 (Tex. Crim. App. 2024). The Court, therefore, remanded the case to the trial court to

consider Applicant’s involuntary plea claim without reference to an inference of falsity regarding

Goines’s conduct in Applicant’s case. Id.

In response to this Court’s remand order, the trial court made findings of fact and conclusions

of law recommending relief be denied because Applicant failed to establish that he would have

proceeded to trial if he had been aware of the potential impeachment evidence concerning Officer

Goines’ misconduct in other cases. Ex parte Palmberg, 491 S.W.3d 804, 807 (Tex. Crim. App.

2016); Ex parte Barnaby, 475 S.W.3d 316, 325 (Tex. Crim. App. 2015). We agree with the trial

court’s findings of fact and conclusions of law. Relied is denied.

Delivered: March 12, 2025 Do not publish