JEFFERSON PARISH, La. — Jefferson Parish District Attorney’s Office was unwilling to charge Randy Schenck with killing Shawn Arthur last year, even after a federal judge ruled Schenck’s theft and sex-trafficking crimes had caused Arthur’s death in 2017.
But DA Paul Connick’s office was willing to charge Arthur’s father, Bob, thousands of dollars to get public records related to the investigation.
In a lawsuit filed Wednesday, Bob Arthur argues the DA is violating the Louisiana Public Records Act by trying to charge him more than $18,500 for paper copies or upwards of $5,500 for electronic copies of the closed file, even though it has already prepared the documents and told him he could review them for free if he came to the office to look at them in-person.
“To file a request for public records and finally be told seven months later that the records are ready, with a price tag of over $18,000, is ridiculous,” Arthur said.
Arthur’s case was filed by the Tulane Law School First Amendment Law Clinic. If it’s successful, the case could have far-reaching implications for journalists and others who have seen government agencies charge increasingly high fees to provide records that are supposed to be available to everyone.
“These charges are egregious because the Public Records Act is clear that public bodies cannot charge for labor in providing public documents to taxpayers,” said Melia Cerrato, a fellow at the law clinic who filed the lawsuit.
The DA’s office declined to comment on pending litigation.
Arthur lives in Missouri, near Kansas City. If he lived closer to the DA’s office in Gretna, he would be allowed to come in and take photos or scan the documents without paying a penny. He said it typically has cost him $850-$1,000 to come to New Orleans to deal with his son’s case.
He initially made the trek because he had to investigate his own son’s death. The Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Office closed its investigation after quickly deciding Shawn’s death was an accident, without following a lead to a prostitute who had visited Shawn’s Metairie apartment the night he died.
Bob had to hire private investigators to track down the prostitute, Dominique Berry, in a Georgia jail, where she admitted giving drugs and alcohol to dozens of men to help Schenck rob them. Bob Arthur turned his findings over to the FBI, and federal prosecutors charged Schenck and Berry with sex trafficking and identity theft.
Both Schenck and Berry pled guilty and U.S District Judge Barry Ashe ruled Schenck owed the Arthurs restitution for causing Shawn’s death. At one point, Ashe even asked federal prosecutors why Schenck hadn’t been charged with murder, although murder is a state crime, not a federal one.
For years, WWL Louisiana followed Arthur’s efforts to get Connick’s office to charge Schenck with murder.
Under Louisiana criminal law, if someone dies as a result of a robbery or other felony, it’s murder.
But last Feb. 23, the DA’s office said it “determined that there is insufficient evidence to pursue a homicide prosecution in connection with the death of Shawn Arthur.”
That same day, Bob Arthur filed his public record request. It took the DA’s office more than seven months to tell him in September that 37,000 pages of documents were ready for him. In October, Connick’s office told Arthur it could send him the files if he paid 50 cents per page for paper copies or 15 cents per page for a “digital scanning and redaction fee.”
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