An attorney with the Combined Law Enforcement Associations of Texas who represented a fired Port Arthur police detective through an arbitration hearing in November is not longer with CLEAT.

Alex Price, communication specialist with CLEAT, confirmed that Bob Thomas is no longer with the organization. Price was not able to provide any additional information regarding legal representation for Mickey Sterling.

Don B. Hayes, who served as arbitrator during the three-day hearing was unavailable for comment on Tuesday.

The arbitration hearing ended in limbo as Thomas and Bettye Lynn, the attorney representing the city, verbally battled over the admissibility of Sterling’s income tax filings with Thomas saying the documents were privileged and confidential.

Lynn argued the documents were not privileged information because they would need to be used should Sterling be put back to work as a way to tabulate his pay.

There was also an issue of missing time slips deemed integral to the case.

Another difficulty in the case was that some witnesses had not answered their subpoena. Lynn reportedly had about 20 people subpoenaed with only a handful showing up. One witness, self-professed psychic medium Karen Jannise, provided her testimony via speakerphone during the proceedings.

When the hearing was paused, no date was immediately set for continuation.