AG set to provide details on case involving public records request, human resource issues

BATON ROUGE, La. (WAFB) - Attorney General Jeff Landry said a news conference will be held Tuesday, April 20, to give details about the Landry v Gallo litigation and discuss human resource issues at the Louisiana Department of Justice.

It will start at 10:30 a.m.

Other members of the Louisiana Department of Justice will also provide information.

RELATED: Judge rules AG Landry must turn over public records

In early March, District Court Judge Tim Kelley ruled records requested by a newspaper reporter related to sexual harassment complaints against a high-ranking member of the Louisiana Attorney General’s office must be made public.

The records detail the sexual harassment complaints against Pat Magee, the head of Attorney General Jeff Landry’s criminal division.

Andrea Gallo, a reporter for The Advocate and The Times-Picayune, filed a public records request in December 2020 asking for copies of all harassment complaints involving Magee. Gallo also requested all documents that detail how those complaints were investigated and dealt with.

Magee was ultimately found to have used inappropriate language in the workplace including profanity, sexual slang, and unprofessional comments about the appearance of coworkers, his January 2021 disciplinary letter said.

The details of the discipline taken against him were outlined in an “administrative investigation report” released by Landry’s office to various media outlets earlier this year.

Landry’s office initially said it would produce the documents the newspaper requested once its own internal investigation into the matter was complete.

However, after that happened, Landry’s office declined to release the documents, citing Magee’s constitutional right to privacy and policies within the Attorney General’s office and state Civil Service that call for confidentiality in such investigations, the newspaper reported.

The newspaper said it then agreed to receive the documents with the names of the alleged victims and witnesses redacted, or blacked out, to preserve privacy.

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