Cited the 28 complaints, the 13-year-old termination recommendation that had been ignored, the seven victims who testified, the false report filed with deliberate intent to cover up a racially motivated assault, and the extraordinary restraint shown by the victim who had the capability to defend himself and chose the truth instead. Then, Judge Owens looked directly at Mallerie and spoke without notes because she didn't need them. "Officer Mallerie, you spent 20 years hiding behind a badge in a department that protected you from the consequences of your own racism. You assaulted an innocent man in a grocery store because his size and his skin color triggered assumptions that your 20 years of experience should have eliminated, but instead reinforced. When you went back to your station and wrote a report that described a completely different encounter to the one captured on three security cameras, you demonstrated that you knew exactly what you had done and chose deception over accountability.
That choice tells me everything about your character and informs this sentence entirely." She sentenced Mallerie to 14 years in state prison with possibility of parole after 10 years. At 47 years old, Mallerie would be 57 at his earliest possible release. His pension was permanently revoked. His law enforcement certification was cancelled for life.
He was led from the courtroom in handcuffs while his wife sat in the gallery and stared at her hands. The civil lawsuit Pierce filed against Mallerie and the police department was settled four months after the criminal conviction for $2.4 million. The settlement was the largest excessive force payout in the city's history and included mandatory department-wide reforms. Every officer was required to complete 40 hours of racial bias training annually. All use of force incidents were required to be reviewed by an independent civilian board within 72 hours. any discrepancy between an officer's written report and available footage triggered an automatic internal affairs investigation.
Officers with three or more excessive force complaints within five years faced mandatory review and potential termination regardless of how previous complaints had been resolved. The supervisor, who had overruled the 2011 termination recommendation, was tracked down in retirement and formally censured. Though he could not be criminally charged, his name was entered into the public record of the case as someone whose decision to protect Mallerie had directly enabled 13 additional years of racial profiling and the assault of a decorated Navy SEAL. His retirement benefits were placed under legal review. Four other officers identified during the internal affairs review as having disproportionate complaint patterns similar to Malleries were placed under immediate enhanced supervision.
Two resigned within a month rather than face ongoing scrutiny. Two others were terminated after their own files were reviewed and found to contain patterns of conduct that had been repeatedly minimized and dismissed. Cassie, the store employee who had called police on Pierce for shopping carefully while Black and