SHERMAN, Tex. (KXII) -- EDITOR'S NOTE: The video is unedited and contains vulgar language.
Country music superstar singer Randy Travis’ arrest for driving while intoxicated in August 2012 didn’t end with the singer’s guilty plea and sentence 200 hours of community service and 24 months of community supervision.
When news organizations filed freedom of information requests for dashcam video of the arrest, Travis’ legal team appealed, starting a 5-year legal odyssey which ended this past Friday when the dashcam video of Travis’ arrest on an August night near Tioga was released.
The initial lawsuit was filed by media organizations to safeguard the public’s constitutional right of access to public information under the Texas Public Information Act.
Travis’ appeals were directed against the Texas Department of Public Safety, the agency who made the arrest.
The appeal went wound its way through Texas courts, and after losing at the Texas Supreme Court, Travis’ legal team went to federal court asking for an injunction to keep the video private.
That injunction was denied this past Thursday by a Federal District Judge in Dallas. The judge allowed the release of the redacted video on Friday, Dec. 1.
The redactions made included any portions of the video pertaining to Mr. Travis' medical records, emergency services records, and prescription medication information and certain portions of the video showing Mr. Travis unclothed.
Since his arrest in 2012, Mr. Travis has been recovering from a life-threatening stroke he suffered in July 2013.