Beasley v. Cannizzaro
Beasley v. Cannizzaro
Opinion of the Court
This appeal arises from the trial court's judgment ordering the Orleans Parish District Attorney to produce certain charge conference sheets in redacted form. We find the District Attorney failed to carry its burden of proving that refusal to disclose the charge conference sheets in their entirety was warranted. Additionally, he has not shown that the trial court abused its discretion in ordering an in camera inspection of the charge conference sheets or that the trial court's factual findings are manifest error. Therefore, we affirm the trial court's judgment and order the trial court to conduct a hearing to assess and award Ms. Beasley reasonable attorney's fees and other litigation costs pursuant to La. R.S. 44:35(D).
PROCEDURAL HISTORY AND FACTUAL BACKGROUND
Emily Beasley ("Ms. Beasley") is a private investigator retained by pro bono counsel representing Steven Williams ("Mr. Williams") in post-conviction proceedings. Mr. Williams was convicted on January 9, 2013, of the April 3, 2006 murder of Demarcus Jordan. The State's conviction of Mr. Williams relied on the testimony of a single eyewitness. At the time the murder occurred, Mr. Williams was 17 years old, and the charges against him were twice refused between 2006 and 2009. Counsel for Mr. Williams claims that it remains unknown what exculpatory facts led to the charges against Mr. Williams initially being refused only to be accepted when presented a third time.
Ms. Beasley made a public records request of Leon Cannizzaro, in his official capacity as the District Attorney for Orleans Parish ("District Attorney"), for documents relating to the screening, investigating, and prosecution of Mr. Williams. In response to Ms. Beasley's request, the District Attorney provided a "privileged list" identifying 38 items which his office claimed were being withheld pursuant to La. R.S. 44:4.1(C). Among the items withheld were charge conference sheets identified as items 22, 31, and 34.
*636Ms. Beasley thereafter filed a petition for writ of mandamus seeking a court order directing the District Attorney to produce the charge conference sheets. The District Attorney opposed the petition asserting that the charge conference sheets constitute privileged work product. The trial court thereafter issued a judgment ordering the District Attorney to produce to the trial court for an in camera inspection the charge conference sheets identified as items 22, 31, and 34 in the privileged list attached to the petition for writ of mandamus.
Following the in camera inspection, the trial court granted Ms. Beasley's petition for a writ of mandamus. In the April 2018 judgment granting Ms. Beasley's petition, the trial court ordered the District Attorney to redact certain information and ordered the District Attorney to produce all other documents requested. The District Attorney files this timely appeal.
STANDARD OF REVIEW
"[A] district court's findings of fact in a mandamus proceeding are subject to a manifest error standard of review." St. Bernard Port, Harbor and Terminal District v. Guy Hopkins Construction Co., Inc. , 16-0907, p. 4 (La. App. 4 Cir. 4/5/17),
DISCUSSION
The Louisiana Supreme Court "has determined that the right of access to public records is a fundamental right guaranteed by La. Const. art. XII § 3, and whenever there is any doubt as to whether the public has the right of access to certain records, the doubt must be resolved in favor of the public's right of access." Landis v. Moreau , 00-1157, p. 4 (La. 2/21/01),
As the custodian of the public records Ms. Beasley seeks, the District Attorney bears the burden of proving that a record is exempt from disclosure under the Public Records Act. Trenticosta v. Mamoulides , 93-621 (La. App. 5 Cir. 2/23/94),
The District Attorney asserts that the charge conference sheets, in their entirety, are exempt from disclosure pursuant to La. R.S. 44:4.1(C) and La. R.S. 44:3(D). In that the District Attorney refused to disclose any portion of the charge conference sheets, it was the District Attorney's "burden of proof to establish why disclosure should be kept." Trenticosta ,
Like the trial court, we find Mr. Martin's affidavit fails to satisfy the District Attorney's burden of demonstrating that the charge conference sheets were properly withheld from disclosure. Notably, Mr. Martin attests to the purpose of a charge conference sheet and its contents but only in general terms. The affidavit makes no mention of the case at bar or the specific public records request that Ms. Beasley made. Also absent in Mr. Martin's affidavit is any evidence that Mr. Martin reviewed the charge conference sheets at issue. Further, Mr. Martin does not indicate that redaction of any potentially exempt information is impossible or overly burdensome. Therefore, we find Mr. Martin's affidavit does not support the District Attorney's assertion that the charge conference sheets were properly withheld from disclosure.
Nevertheless, the District Attorney maintains that the charge conference sheets, in their entirety, are exempt under La. R.S. 44:4.1(C), which provides that the Public Records Act:
Shall not apply to any writings, records, or other accounts that reflect the mental impressions, conclusions, opinions, or theories of an attorney or expert, obtained or prepared in anticipation of litigation or in preparation for trial.
However, as Ms. Beasley points out, the Public Records Act does not exempt from disclosure underlying facts that are contained in the charge conference sheets. The plain language of La. R.S. 44:4.1(C) is limited to "mental impressions, conclusions, opinions, or theories." The plain language of the statute makes no mention of the writings of an attorney which reflect the underlying facts of an investigation.
In Landis v. Moreau , the trial court ruled that audiotapes containing statements of witnesses interviewed by the district attorney's office during its investigation were exempt from disclosure under the Public Records Act.
Similarly, in this case, the trial court ordered and conducted an in camera inspection to determine whether any portions of the charge conference sheets are discoverable. In doing so, the trial court made a factual determination that the charge conference sheets do not consist entirely of the mental impressions, opinions, conclusions, or theories of the District Attorney's office, but contain underlying facts that are not exempt under the Public Records Act. The trial court consequently ordered the District Attorney to redact the mental impressions of attorneys and produce those portions of the documents that consist of the underlying facts and/or evidence in Mr. Williams' case.
"[A]ccess to public records can be denied only when the Public Records Law or the Constitution specifically and unequivocally provide otherwise." Shane , 14-2225, p. 9,
Finally, in the event this Court should affirm the trial court's ruling, Ms. Beasley asserts that she is entitled to an award of fees pursuant to La. R.S. 44:35(D)(1), which provides in pertinent part:
If a person seeking the right to inspect ... or to receive a copy ... of a public record prevails in such suit, he shall be awarded reasonable attorney fees and other costs of litigation. If such person prevails in part, the court may in its discretion award him reasonable attorney fees or an appropriate portion thereof.
We find the trial court did not commit manifest error in concluding that the District Attorney incorrectly refused to disclose the charge conference sheets in their entirety. Accordingly, the trial court is instructed to conduct a hearing to assess and award Ms. Beasley reasonable attorney's fees and costs pursuant to La. R.S. 44:35(D). See also Ferguson v. Stephens ,
DECREE
A review of the record demonstrates that the trial court completed a thorough review of the evidence and pursuant to Landis conducted an in camera inspection to determine whether the charge conference sheets at issue were exempt under the Public Records Act. The District Attorney bore the burden of proving that refusal to disclose the charge conference sheets in their entirety was warranted. The District Attorney has failed to carry *639his burden and has not demonstrated to this Court that the trial court committed manifest error or abused its discretion. Therefore, we affirm the trial court's judgment granting Ms. Beasley's petition for writ of mandamus and ordering the District Attorney to produce the charge conference sheets in redacted form. In that Ms. Beasley is the prevailing party, the trial court is instructed to conduct a hearing to assess and award Ms. Beasley reasonable attorney's fees and costs pursuant to La. R.S. 44:35(D).
AFFIRMED
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.