The first-degree manslaughter case brought against a white former Oklahoma police officer who was acquitted in the fatal shooting of an unarmed black man will be removed from her record after she asked to have it expunged, a judge ruled Wednesday.
But that doesn’t mean no one will ever be able to read the case again.
District Judge William LaFortune also ordered all documents involving former Tulsa officer Betty Jo Shelby’s case sealed and kept with the court. The case will only be accessible through a court order and can be destroyed after 10 years, according to state law.
Excluding government and law enforcement, which would have access to the record because Shelby would likely disclose it on job applications, agencies won’t be able to find the case in a background search, said Shelby’s defense attorney, Shannon McMurray.
“This crime does not exist for employment application purposes,” McMurray said Wednesday.
She said it was important for Shelby “to have that smear on her name removed from public view.”
“Like any other citizen who is acquitted, Betty Jo Shelby was entitled to have her record sealed and expunged,” the attorney said. “Betty … continues to work to try and serve her community and prays for everyone’s continued healing.
A spokeswoman for the district attorney declined to comment Wednesday.
Shelby petitioned in August to have her record expunged after jurors acquitted her three months earlier in the September 2016 killing of 40-year-old Terence Crutcher.
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SOURCE: Justin Juozapavicius
NBC 4 Washington