Opinion ID: 2310706
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Basis of Testimony

Text: Petitioner asserts that Officer Teare's testimony was based on the expunged records and not on his memory of the events. According to Petitioner, Officer Teare had a long and close association with the expunged documents in this case; the officer, on numerous occasions, came into contact with the expunged documents [15] creating what Petitioner refers to as a pyramiding effect, which shaped Officer Teare's testimony. This argument is unavailing. When the Circuit Court remanded the case for the second time on 5 December 1996, as noted supra pp. 918-19, the court instructed: [T]he Court remands this matter to the administrative agency for the purposes of determining whether the testimony of the police officers was based upon records which were subject to expungement as defined by the statute. The agency should determine the extent to which the testimony introduced at the hearing was first-hand knowledge, how much information officers obtained from records, and whether the records used were subject to expungement. Should the agency determine that officers testified from memory or used records not subject to expungement, then the decision of the Secretary should be affirmed. If the agency determines that the testimony was based on records which should have been expunged then the decision of the Secretary of Personnel should be reversed without further order of this court. At the 10 June 1998 administrative hearing, ALJ Seaton clearly delineated the purpose of the hearing. She noted her understanding that the Circuit Court remanded the case for the sole purpose of determining whether the officers testified from records that were subject to expungement. In this regard, she explained: Today's hearing is not a new de novo hearing, it is to determine whether the testimony introduced at the hearing before [ALJ] McCloud was first-hand knowledge, how the officers obtained from the records, and whether the records used were subject to expungement.