HOUSTIB – A former Houston Independent School District elementary school teacher says he is still struggling to get on his feet as false allegations made against him in the past still follow him.
Christopher Doss taught for 15 years before his career path shifted for the worse while teaching 4th grade at Briargrove Elementary School from 2016-2017.
On March 3, 2017, Doss said he was called to the principal’s office, where he was told he had to leave the school. When he asked the principal why -- he says the principal said, “you have to go.”
The following week, the principal told Doss that two students said he pinched them and hit them with a ruler. Doss was then placed on administrative leave while the school investigated the allegations.
According to court documents, the 10-year-old boys told investigators at the time that “Mr. Doss hits us in class and hurts us by twisting, pinching our chest and skin, causing pain and bruising.”
When Child Protective Services investigated, the report stated there was a reason to believe that abuse or neglect did happen due to “large areas of bruising on or about the chest area” on the children.
Doss was eventually charged with injury to a child on June 28, 2017. He said he was represented in court by an attorney.
But on Oct. 19, 2019, prosecutors dismissed the case after Doss said the kids admitted that they lied on the stand.
According to court documents, the case was dismissed because probable cause could “not be proven beyond a reasonable doubt at this time.”
Since then, Doss has applied for other teaching jobs, but no one will hire him due to the past allegations. He says he still has a teacher certification but has been living on the street, house to house since losing his job.
“I went from school teacher to homeless,” Doss said.
KPRC 2 Rilwan spoke to our legal analyst Brian Wice on what options should Doss look into to get his life back.
“Mr. Doss has a couple of options. No. 1, because he was acquitted on one count, he has the right to an automatic expunction as to that allegation. Make no mistake the allegation is clear.”
Wice said the problem is, Doss was not acquitted on the second count but the case was dismissed.
“This dismissal form said there was probable cause but the state isn’t prepared to go forward at this point. That’s the stumbling block,” Wice said. “He’s not entitled to an automatic expunction. He’s entitled to a discretionary expunction.”
So, what does that mean?
“Obviously, an automatic expunction is just that, he may not even have to pay the filing fee if he can find the lawyer to do it for him or he could do it himself,” Wice said. “A discretionary expunction is just that, he has to reach out to the Harris County District Attorney’s Office and ask them in the interest of justice to expunge the allegations that was dismissed that never went to trial.”
He said Doss’ story seems compelling and it’s up to the Harris County District Attorney’s Office to decide if he’s entitled to that discretionary expunction.
“In cases involving an automatic expunction, such as a not guilty, my understanding is that Mr. Doss may not even have to pay for the filing fee,” Wice said. “But like anything else in life, you get what you pay for. I think it would definitely be in Mr. Doss’s best interest to spend the money to hire a lawyer. There are lawyers that do this on a daily basis. It’s not all that expensive.”
He continued, “At the end of the day this may be something that could turn Mr. Doss’s life around.”
KPRC 2 reporter Rilwan Balogun sat down with Doss and will share more of his story on KPRC 2 News at 6 p.m.