I don't like deferred adjudication or any other program that allows a person's criminal record to be expunged. There should be very few reasons for cleansing a person's record -- the main one being that evidence surfaces that exonerates him of the crime for which he was convicted.
The case in point is Erbie Lee Bowser. Bowser is the fruitcake who went on a killing spree last week, killing his ex-girlfriend and her daughter and his ex-wife and her daughter. This man was a special education teacher and coach in a public school! Even after he threw a grenade into his ex-wife's house, his friends and co-workers talked about what a "gentle giant" and what a great, friendly, loving man he was.
But Bowser had a criminal past. It was domestic violence crimes, but it's hard to find out just how criminal, because his record was erased through a program for convicted veterans -- a program he lied to get into. The program is supposed to be limited to those whose crimes are related in some way to the veteran's exposure to combat conditions. Despite his claims that he served in Desert Shield and Somalia and had a Purple Heart, the closest Bowser ever got to combat was a Hawaiian beach. Don't they check these things? Evidently not.
If his record still existed, would it have saved the lives of those four people he murdered? Maybe not, but it should have insured that our public school children were not exposed to a violent man. Then again, the public schools don't have such a hot record of thorough background checks, either.
"'Gentle giant' held in slayings of 4." The Dallas Morning News; August 9, 2013; p. 1a.
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