Government authorities ruled immune for publishing man's 1977 conviction after it was expunged

David Schied was convicted in Texas, in 1977, of aggravated robbery. When he applied to work for Northville Public Schools, he provided them with a valid Texas Court order pardoning him and expunging the conviction. The school system kept the order in Schied's personnel record and then provided a copy to another school when it requested a copy of Schied's employment records. Schied had executed an authorization permitting the school system to provide copies of his record. Nevertheless, he sued the school for publishing the order. A judge ruled that maintaining a copy of the order and publishing it pursuant to a valid authorization was not illegal. Since that time, Mr. Schied has filed several additional lawsuits in a campaign to give meaning to the expunction of his criminial record. None have been successful. Many people give more meaning to the process of expunging a criminal conviction than they should: these records seem never to be actually "expunged."