Sealing of Court Cases

[ELB]

The topic of whether old court cases that have been sealed or expunged or whatever need to be reported on CHL applications come up periodically. Here's a case where an old supposedly "sealed" case came back to bite someone. It is not about CHL, but rather a law enforcement officer.

The story is here: http://seguingazette.com/story.lasso?ew ... 03979c6d0c" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

but the Seguin newspaper takes stories off line fairly quickly, so for posterity's sake, here is a summary:

Cop pleads "no contest" to evidence tampering in Uvalde in 1993. Successfully completes deferred adjudicaton probation, charges dismissed, state district judge seals case.

Cop goes on being a cop (article says he is has 20 years of "public service), including 12 years in Seguin. At least part of this was as a criminal investigator with the Guadalupe County sheriff's department.

Hays County sheriff hires the guy (last year) to head Hay County Criminal Investigation Division.

DA in Hays County somehow finds out about the 1993 case, goes to the sheriff with it expressing concerns about "credibility," (and personally, I can see that) and sheriff tells guy to resign or be fired. He resigns.

Guy is now suing the DA, the sheriff, and Hays County, claiming they have "intentionally interfered" with his employment as a police officer, and for harrassment, wrongful termination, and misrepresentation of facts about the case. His suit claims the DA not only notified the Hays County sheriff, but sent a fax about the issue to the Guadalupe County DA.

Article repeats law enforcement scuttlebutt that this is part of a political feud between the Hays County DA and the Hays County sheriff.

I wonder how many people (or lawyers of people) convicted in cases this guy has touched will start agitating for new dismissals, trials, etc.