Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill
NEW ORLEANS — Attorneys for Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill have accused the New Orleans city attorney’s office of illegally blocking a public-records request seeking communications tied to the now-dismissed grand jury indictment of Murrill.
Murrill’s lawyers, Laura Rodrigue and Blake Arcuri, submitted the request Monday to City Attorney Charline Gipson. They sought records involving Mayor Helena Moreno, Orleans Parish District Attorney Jason Williams, City Council President J.P. Morrell and council members Matthew Williard, Jason Hughes, Aimee McCarron and Freddie King, as well as Andrew Tuozzolo, a special counsel to Moreno.
The request covers communications from June 1 — the date retired Judge Laurie White was appointed special prosecutor — through the present concerning the grand jury investigation, the case against Murrill and the July 21 letter in which city officials asked White to dismiss the prosecution, Rodrigue wrote. It seeks emails, texts, app-based messages, phone calls, voicemails, letters and memoranda involving White and the named officials or people acting for them.
Murrill was indicted July 2 on 16 counts of malfeasance in office and public intimidation after sending letters to Moreno, Williams and five council members during a dispute over state-mandated consolidation of Orleans Parish’s civil and criminal court clerk offices. The Louisiana Supreme Court stayed the prosecution, and White dismissed the charges July 22 after receiving letters from the alleged victims asking that the case be dropped.
Gipson’s office replied that the request could not be fulfilled as submitted and instructed Murrill’s attorneys to limit it to no more than five employee names, a two-week time frame and five search terms, according to correspondence released by Rodrigue.
“Please provide no more than five employee names, a timeframe of no more than two weeks, and no more than five search terms,” the response said. “Please be advised that you may be asked to further narrow your search.”
Rodrigue called that response unlawful and cited the public records litigation in Emily Washington v. Leon Cannizzaro, in which a court ordered the former Orleans Parish district attorney’s office to produce records after a broad request and imposed more than $51,000 in penalties. Rodrigue told Gipson that Louisiana’s public-records law does not permit the categorical restrictions sought by the city, according to Fox 8.
Gipson did not explain the requested limits in the statement provided to news outlets. She said the city had received the request and would handle it under applicable law.
“Today, the City Attorney’s Office received a public records request from Ms. Rodrigue,” Gipson said. “It is being reviewed and will be responded to in accordance with applicable law.”
The records dispute is part of Murrill’s continuing effort to learn how the investigation and indictment originated. Her attorneys have separately sued White over her response to earlier public records requests and have issued subpoenas to Moreno, Williams and five council members for testimony and records in that civil case.
City officials have denied involvement in the grand jury’s charging decision. In an earlier statement, Gipson said the subpoenas improperly drew city leaders into a civil public-records lawsuit in which they were not parties, characterizing the effort as harassment and saying the city would respond in court.
Rodrigue said records recently obtained from the district attorney’s office suggest city officials may have appeared before the grand jury. She cited messages attributed to White referring to six witnesses who wanted drivers, building parking and private access for grand jury appearances. Gipson said any attempt to identify grand jury witnesses or discover what occurred in the proceedings could implicate grand jury secrecy rules and should be litigated in court.
