Rep Royce Duplessis (D) New Orleans
New Orleans Representative Royce Duplessis wants to limit the release of mugshots in Louisiana, in an effort to prevent those who are innocent from the public embarrassment that it can impose.
“It will bar the media, and any other digital publishers from publishing the mugshot of an arrested person prior to conviction, unless the person is deemed a fugitive or some other imminent danger to the public,” said Duplessis.
House Bill 729 prohibits law enforcement from releasing a booking photograph in any format if they reasonably believe it will be published on a pay-for-publication or website.
Private attorney, Rep. John Stefanski, praised the legislation. Stefanski said when he works on expungement cases, he tells his clients that once a mugshot is released it’s extremely difficult to have it removed from a website and it can follow a person for the remainder of their life.
Duplessis said Louisiana should follow the federal example set by the US Marshals Service which is the custodian of federal arrest records….
“For a long time, they have prohibited the disclosure of mugshots prior to conviction, and they have deemed them an unwarranted invasion of privacy,” said Duplessis.
Legal counsel for the Louisiana Press Association, Scott Sternberg said the bill is too broad. He advocates placing a charge on booking photos to eliminate the majority of mugshots released.
“And it also puts a little bit of a limit on the press right, because then we’re not going to buy a mugshot for some “random John Q. Public” because that’s not really what we want to do,” said Sternberg.
The bill passed on an 11 to 1 vote in House Governmental Affairs and now heads to the House floor.
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