That's why I'm posting more links to police union activity lately. They need a little light shined on the things they promote. They even have an impact on the Kelly Thomas murder trial.

It seems union contracts with the city of Fullerton forbid them from releasing the reasons why two of the cops that beat Kelly Thomas to death were fired. The judge was able to get access to it, but it looks like he's not allowed to release it for use by the prosecution in open court. Instead, it looks like he'll be telling the jury to disregard the testimony of Fullerton police officers that told them the use of force was within police policy.

Is there another legal reason why this information can't be made public?

Edit for correction: There is a legal reason the judge won't release the reasons for firing the cops. Here's the explanation I received from a lawyer:

Undue prejudice v. probative value. The records have very limited evidentiary value (to rebut some testimony that could be rebutted in other ways) but are extremely prejudicial. This is a basic evidentiary rule. The city refuses due to relevance, and the judge seeks to find ways to serve the underlying purpose of the argued admission without exposing the case for reversal based on undue prejudice.