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TEA Can't Invalidate Arrest Record Expunction
The Texas Supreme Court (TSC) left undisturbed the majority (8-1) ruling by the full Texas First Court of Appeals (Houston) that blocked the TEA’s efforts to prevent the arrest records of an ex-teacher (identified only as S.E.H.) from being expunged due to a court overturning his conviction on a felony “online solicitation of a minor” charge.
The TEA failed to convince the majority of First Court justices that S.E.H. was not legally entitled to have his arrest records (resulting from a police undercover online chatroom sting operation) expunged and that the TEA needed the records in its files to be used against him if he attempted to regain his certification.
S.E.H. voluntarily surrendered his certification to SBEC as a part of a plea agreement. The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals subsequently ruled that the “online solicitation of a minor” charge was unconstitutional, leading S.E.H. to successfully petition a court to overturn his conviction and (over the TEA’s objections), expunge his arrest records.
See TEN, Jan. 14, 2019, for a detailed summary of the First Court’s decision, which included a majority opinion, two concurring opinions and a dissenting opinion.