diff --git a/docs/test-cleanup-ledger.md b/docs/test-cleanup-ledger.md
index a018045c..ac7d1fb7 100644
--- a/docs/test-cleanup-ledger.md
+++ b/docs/test-cleanup-ledger.md
@@ -482,3 +482,16 @@ checks, independent review and platform CI using temporary state only.
   the old false greens and targeted failures after the change. Validate healthy
   cases with the race detector, the native overlay suite, static checks,
   independent review and PR CI. No production or live archive changes; no releases.
+
+## Owner-purge SQL assertion errors
+
+- Check all 20 previously ignored assertion-query results in the owner-purge
+  tests before comparing retained evidence, empty tables, rollback state or
+  coverage. Failed reads must not masquerade as empty results or equal strings.
+- Preserve every SQL literal, purge/refusal/migration fixture, mutation and
+  expected value. Keep assertion-query errors local so expected purge errors
+  are not overwritten.
+- Disposable Go overlays inject broken empty-result and before/after reads to
+  reproduce the false greens, then verify targeted failures. Validate healthy
+  real SQLite cases with the race detector, static checks, independent review
+  and PR CI. No production code, live archives, deployment or releases change.
diff --git a/internal/store/thread_exclusions_test.go b/internal/store/thread_exclusions_test.go
index 91d3e5e0..e6d337a1 100644
--- a/internal/store/thread_exclusions_test.go
+++ b/internal/store/thread_exclusions_test.go
@@ -71,7 +71,9 @@ func TestOwnerPurgeRemovesExactClosureAndPreventsReintroduction(t *testing.T) {
 		t.Fatalf("plan=%+v", plan)
 	}
 	var retained string
-	s.DB().QueryRow("SELECT raw_json FROM pull_request_details WHERE thread_id=2").Scan(&retained)
+	if err := s.DB().QueryRow("SELECT raw_json FROM pull_request_details WHERE thread_id=2").Scan(&retained); err != nil {
+		t.Fatal(err)
+	}
 	result, err := applyPurge(t, s, ctx, "fixture/repo", []int{10}, "owner-request-fixture")
 	if err != nil || !result.Applied {
 		t.Fatalf("%+v %v", result, err)
@@ -83,7 +85,9 @@ func TestOwnerPurgeRemovesExactClosureAndPreventsReintroduction(t *testing.T) {
 		}
 	}
 	var after string
-	s.DB().QueryRow("SELECT raw_json FROM pull_request_details WHERE thread_id=2").Scan(&after)
+	if err := s.DB().QueryRow("SELECT raw_json FROM pull_request_details WHERE thread_id=2").Scan(&after); err != nil {
+		t.Fatal(err)
+	}
 	if after != retained {
 		t.Fatal("peer evidence changed")
 	}
@@ -92,12 +96,16 @@ func TestOwnerPurgeRemovesExactClosureAndPreventsReintroduction(t *testing.T) {
 		t.Fatalf("FTS leaked removed document: %d %v", fts, err)
 	}
 	var profiles int
-	s.DB().QueryRow("SELECT count(*) FROM actor_profiles").Scan(&profiles)
+	if err := s.DB().QueryRow("SELECT count(*) FROM actor_profiles").Scan(&profiles); err != nil {
+		t.Fatal(err)
+	}
 	if profiles != 1 {
 		t.Fatal("shared actor removed")
 	}
 	var remaining string
-	s.DB().QueryRow("SELECT evidence_json FROM analytics_fetch_attempts WHERE number=20").Scan(&remaining)
+	if err := s.DB().QueryRow("SELECT evidence_json FROM analytics_fetch_attempts WHERE number=20").Scan(&remaining); err != nil {
+		t.Fatal(err)
+	}
 	if !strings.Contains(remaining, `"numbers":[10,20]`) {
 		t.Fatal("unrelated mixed receipt changed")
 	}
@@ -118,7 +126,9 @@ func TestOwnerPurgeRemovesExactClosureAndPreventsReintroduction(t *testing.T) {
 	}
 	for _, q := range []string{"SELECT count(*) FROM analytics_fetch_attempts WHERE number=10", "SELECT count(*) FROM analytics_retries WHERE number=10", "SELECT count(*) FROM actor_identity_evidence WHERE node_id='node10'", "SELECT count(*) FROM analytics_pending_nodes WHERE node_id='node10'"} {
 		var n int
-		s.DB().QueryRow(q).Scan(&n)
+		if err := s.DB().QueryRow(q).Scan(&n); err != nil {
+			t.Fatal(err)
+		}
 		if n != 0 {
 			t.Fatal("excluded evidence recreated", q, n)
 		}
@@ -132,8 +142,12 @@ func TestOwnerPurgeRemovesExactClosureAndPreventsReintroduction(t *testing.T) {
 		t.Fatal(err)
 	}
 	var complete, pending, excluded, core int
-	s.DB().QueryRow("SELECT complete,pending_items,owner_excluded_items FROM analytics_review_state_coverage").Scan(&complete, &pending, &excluded)
-	s.DB().QueryRow("SELECT complete FROM analytics_coverage").Scan(&core)
+	if err := s.DB().QueryRow("SELECT complete,pending_items,owner_excluded_items FROM analytics_review_state_coverage").Scan(&complete, &pending, &excluded); err != nil {
+		t.Fatal(err)
+	}
+	if err := s.DB().QueryRow("SELECT complete FROM analytics_coverage").Scan(&core); err != nil {
+		t.Fatal(err)
+	}
 	if complete != 0 || pending != 0 || excluded != 1 || core != 1 {
 		t.Fatalf("false recovery: review=%d pending=%d excluded=%d core=%d", complete, pending, excluded, core)
 	}
@@ -154,7 +168,9 @@ func TestOwnerPurgeRejectsTailAndRollsBack(t *testing.T) {
 		t.Fatalf("tail admitted: %v", err)
 	}
 	var n int
-	s.DB().QueryRow("SELECT count(*) FROM thread_exclusions").Scan(&n)
+	if err := s.DB().QueryRow("SELECT count(*) FROM thread_exclusions").Scan(&n); err != nil {
+		t.Fatal(err)
+	}
 	if n != 0 {
 		t.Fatal("tail failure wrote policy")
 	}
@@ -173,12 +189,16 @@ func TestOwnerPurgeRejectsTailAndRollsBack(t *testing.T) {
 		t.Fatal("failure accepted")
 	}
 	for _, q := range []string{"SELECT count(*) FROM threads WHERE id=1", "SELECT count(*) FROM actor_identity_evidence WHERE node_id='node10'", "SELECT count(*) FROM analytics_retries WHERE number=10"} {
-		s.DB().QueryRow(q).Scan(&n)
+		if err := s.DB().QueryRow(q).Scan(&n); err != nil {
+			t.Fatal(err)
+		}
 		if n != 1 {
 			t.Fatal("partial purge", q, n)
 		}
 	}
-	s.DB().QueryRow("SELECT count(*) FROM thread_exclusions").Scan(&n)
+	if err := s.DB().QueryRow("SELECT count(*) FROM thread_exclusions").Scan(&n); err != nil {
+		t.Fatal(err)
+	}
 	if n != 0 {
 		t.Fatal("rollback left exclusion")
 	}
@@ -209,8 +229,12 @@ func TestOwnerExclusionV15MigrationIsAdditive(t *testing.T) {
 	}
 	defer s.Close()
 	var version, count int
-	s.DB().QueryRow("pragma user_version").Scan(&version)
-	s.DB().QueryRow("select count(*) from comments").Scan(&count)
+	if err := s.DB().QueryRow("pragma user_version").Scan(&version); err != nil {
+		t.Fatal(err)
+	}
+	if err := s.DB().QueryRow("select count(*) from comments").Scan(&count); err != nil {
+		t.Fatal(err)
+	}
 	if version != 16 || count != 2 {
 		t.Fatalf("migration altered data: %d %d", version, count)
 	}
@@ -241,13 +265,19 @@ func TestOwnerPurgeRefusesBlobBackedTargetsWithoutMutation(t *testing.T) {
 			}
 			result, err := applyPurge(t, s, ctx, "fixture/repo", []int{10}, "blob-fixture")
 			var count, threads int
-			s.DB().QueryRow("SELECT count(*) FROM blobs WHERE id=1").Scan(&count)
-			s.DB().QueryRow("SELECT count(*) FROM threads WHERE id=1").Scan(&threads)
+			if err := s.DB().QueryRow("SELECT count(*) FROM blobs WHERE id=1").Scan(&count); err != nil {
+				t.Fatal(err)
+			}
+			if err := s.DB().QueryRow("SELECT count(*) FROM threads WHERE id=1").Scan(&threads); err != nil {
+				t.Fatal(err)
+			}
 			if err == nil || result.Applied || !strings.Contains(err.Error(), "blob-backed") || count != 1 || threads != 1 {
 				t.Fatalf("unsupported blob target was altered: %+v %v count=%d threads=%d", result, err, count, threads)
 			}
 			var policy int
-			s.DB().QueryRow("SELECT count(*) FROM thread_exclusions").Scan(&policy)
+			if err := s.DB().QueryRow("SELECT count(*) FROM thread_exclusions").Scan(&policy); err != nil {
+				t.Fatal(err)
+			}
 			if policy != 0 {
 				t.Fatal("refusal installed an exclusion")
 			}
@@ -289,7 +319,9 @@ func TestOwnerPurgeCanonicalRepositoryMatchesCaseVariantReceipts(t *testing.T) {
 		}
 	}
 	var complete, excluded int
-	s.DB().QueryRow("SELECT complete,owner_excluded_items FROM analytics_review_state_coverage WHERE repository='Fixture/Repo'").Scan(&complete, &excluded)
+	if err := s.DB().QueryRow("SELECT complete,owner_excluded_items FROM analytics_review_state_coverage WHERE repository='Fixture/Repo'").Scan(&complete, &excluded); err != nil {
+		t.Fatal(err)
+	}
 	if complete != 0 || excluded != 1 {
 		t.Fatal("variant coverage falsely complete", complete, excluded)
 	}
@@ -297,7 +329,9 @@ func TestOwnerPurgeCanonicalRepositoryMatchesCaseVariantReceipts(t *testing.T) {
 		t.Fatal(err)
 	}
 	var n int
-	s.DB().QueryRow("SELECT count(*) FROM analytics_retries WHERE number=10").Scan(&n)
+	if err := s.DB().QueryRow("SELECT count(*) FROM analytics_retries WHERE number=10").Scan(&n); err != nil {
+		t.Fatal(err)
+	}
 	if n != 0 {
 		t.Fatal("variant requeued")
 	}
@@ -324,12 +358,16 @@ func TestOwnerPurgeRefusesWorkflowEvidenceAndKeepsUnrelatedReservations(t *testi
 			}
 			result, err := applyPurge(t, s, ctx, "fixture/repo", []int{10}, "workflow-fixture")
 			var n int
-			s.DB().QueryRow("SELECT count(*) FROM threads WHERE id=1").Scan(&n)
+			if err := s.DB().QueryRow("SELECT count(*) FROM threads WHERE id=1").Scan(&n); err != nil {
+				t.Fatal(err)
+			}
 			if mode == "unrelated" {
 				if err != nil || !result.Applied || n != 0 {
 					t.Fatalf("unrelated reservation blocked target: %+v %v", result, err)
 				}
-				s.DB().QueryRow("SELECT count(*) FROM workflow_run_observation_reservations WHERE head_sha='peer-sha'").Scan(&n)
+				if err := s.DB().QueryRow("SELECT count(*) FROM workflow_run_observation_reservations WHERE head_sha='peer-sha'").Scan(&n); err != nil {
+					t.Fatal(err)
+				}
 				if n != 1 {
 					t.Fatal("peer reservation lost")
 				}
@@ -337,7 +375,9 @@ func TestOwnerPurgeRefusesWorkflowEvidenceAndKeepsUnrelatedReservations(t *testi
 				if err == nil || !strings.Contains(err.Error(), "workflow") || result.Applied || n != 1 {
 					t.Fatalf("workflow evidence ignored: %+v %v count=%d", result, err, n)
 				}
-				s.DB().QueryRow("SELECT count(*) FROM thread_exclusions").Scan(&n)
+				if err := s.DB().QueryRow("SELECT count(*) FROM thread_exclusions").Scan(&n); err != nil {
+					t.Fatal(err)
+				}
 				if n != 0 {
 					t.Fatal("refusal wrote policy")
 				}