An order preventing the release of video evidence and other records in the police shooting of an African-American man in Lafayette was dropped this week after attorneys for local leaders and media organizations argued against it in state court.
Lawyers for three police officers involved in the fatal shooting of Trayford Pellerin – referred to only as John Doe-1, John Doe-2 and John Doe-3 in court documents – obtained the temporary restraining order Sept. 8. Attorneys representing the Lafayette Consolidated Government and local media organizations this week argued against maintaining the TRO.
Pellerin was killed Aug. 21 outside of a gas station in Lafayette, and his death remains under investigation. Since then, protests and demonstrations about the officers’ actions have been held in the region.
“What happened was that the plaintiffs in the case, who were three John Doe police officers involved, filed suit to try to prevent people in charge of their records from releasing them to the media,” Lake Charles attorney James Doyle, who represented The Advocate, KATC-TV and the Daily Advertiser in the litigation, told the Louisiana Record. “And the record as a result of their filing was sealed.”
There were also efforts on behalf of the Pellerin family to lift the TRO at the same time media organizations urged the 15th Judicial Court in Lafayette to vacate the order on state procedural grounds as well as First Amendment rights.
The officers’ attorneys had argued that releasing such evidence to the media and the public would hurt the integrity of the current investigation into Pellerin's death and future civil lawsuits.
But Doyle pointed to previous litigation in the Louisiana First Circuit Court of Appeal that argued against the idea of more transparency undermining investigations of police shootings.
“Under the facts of that case … they didn’t think it would be so disruptive, and the public’s right to know outweighed it,” he said.
Doyle expects there will be additional litigation over future Police Department decisions about releasing information in the Pellerin case. There’s an ongoing stress between the Louisiana Police Officers Bill of Rights and public records provisions in the state constitution, he said.
“There’s a tension, and there’s always going to be room for people to disagree about how things will be weighed,” Doyle said.
According to the Pellerin family’s petition for intervention filed with the court earlier this month, Lafayette Parish Mayor-President Josh Guillory made a commitment to the family that he would arrange a private viewing of the police body camera footage. The request for the restraining order protecting evidence in the Pellerin case came shortly after that promise was made, the court records state.