CHICAGO — A Cook County judge on Monday denied the requests of a former Chicago Police Officer to expunge and seal records of his arrest and criminal trial in the fatal 2021 shooting of his girlfriend at her home on the Northwest Side.

Judge Mary Anna Planey denied the motions from former officer Pierre Tyler to expunge and seal records in the December 2021 death of Andris Wofford, with whom Tyler shared a child. Tyler, a U.S. Army combat veteran, was found not guilty in May 2024 after four hours of jury deliberations.

“The public’s interest in retaining the record is greater than Mr. Tyler’s interest” in expunging it,” Planey said during a hearing Monday at the Leighton Criminal Courts Building.

After the expungement denial, Tyler’s attorney, Tim Grace, filed an oral motion to seal the case, but that was also denied.

Since the case’s inception, Tyler resigned from the police department and took a job as a manager with Amazon while he works toward a certification in cybersecurity, Grace said Monday. Tyler, a father of three, has no criminal history besides his arrest in the 2021 shooting.

“He spent his entire life, both as a soldier and police officer, protecting the public,” Grace said.

Tyler was arrested on Dec. 9, 2021, and charged with first-degree murder in the shooting death of the 29-year-old Wofford in her home in the 2100 block of North Nashville Avenue.

Tyler, an armed services veteran who joined CPD in 2016, went to Wofford’s home to speak with her about their relationship while the two children were looked after by other relatives. They soon began to argue, as Wofford believed Tyler was married to another woman.

Tyler claimed the two tussled over a gun before it discharged and killed Wofford. Prosecutors noted, though, that Wofford was wearing her coat when she was found and her fingernails showed no signs of a physical altercation.

Her family didn’t respond to previous interview requests.

Testifying in his own defense, Tyler said Wofford pointed a gun at him, her finger on the trigger, hands slightly shaking and eyes darting. Showing the movements to the courtroom, Tyler said he grabbed her in an attempt to disarm her, but instead, her hand went backward and the gun fired. Wofford was shot in the face.

“As her arm goes up, the firearm goes off,” he said. “Her body fell.”

Assistant State’s Attorney Michelle Papa asked Tyler to describe each movement of his body during the shooting.

“It makes no sense, I agree,” Papa said in one instance when Tyler struggled to describe his stance.

Grace previously said Wofford was emotionally distraught, and he highlighted text messages she exchanged with a friend in the days before the shooting. She wrote that she was going to “spazz” out and that “he don’t even know what he’s walking into.”

“She felt slighted,” Grace said. “She was consumed with rage.”

A CPD detective testified that Wofford’s body showed no sign of a struggle over the gun, which was never recovered. Further, the detective testified that Tyler first claimed that he was not present in the home at the time of the shooting.

Tyler told him he was meeting with a confidential informant, or CI, alone during the shooting. The detective told the jury it struck him as strange that Tyler would meet an informant alone without his weapon.

Still, a Cook County jury found Tyler not guilty in May 2024.

While the criminal case proceeded, Wofford’s family filed a three-count wrongful death lawsuit against Tyler and the city, alleging negligent hiring and battery.

Court records show the case was settled last year for $60,000, split three ways between Wofford’s two children and the attorney who represented the family.

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