Pellerin attorneys file motion to fight temporary restraining order on bodycam footage and officer identities

LAFAYETTE, La. (KLFY) — Attorneys for the family of the late Trayford Pellerin have filed a motion to fight against this week’s temporary restraining order sealing bodycam footage and the identities of the officers who shot Pellerin to death on Aug. 21.

The motion was filed in the 15th Judicial District Court today. The entire motion can be downloaded and read below:

The motion was filed on behalf of Trayford’s parents, Cedrick and Michelle Pellerin. In it, the attorneys said the restraining order raised the following questions:

• Why is the body camera footage being hidden from not only the public, but also Trayford’s family?
• What does the LPD audio reveal about the events which led to some seventeen bullets
  being shot at Trayford (who had no gun)?
• Where is the purported 9-1-1 tape?
• Why has the parish coroner’s autopsy report been kept a secret?
• If evidence exists that a Taser was used (or other de-escalation tactics), why has such
  evidence not been released?
• If Trayford was in possession of a knife, why is that evidence being suppressed?
• If the officers who killed Trayford did everything by the book, why are their identities
  being shrouded?
• When Mayor Josh Guillory formally requested that the body cam footage be shown
  privately to Trayford’s parents, why did police need a same-day restraining order
  preventing that request?
• In short, what are they hiding?

The motion mentions Lafayette Mayor-President Josh Guillory’s commitment to the family to show privately show them the bodycam footage. It mentions and shows that Guillory wrote a letter to District Attorney Keith Stutes stating that he intended to do so. The motion then states that Stutes immediately sought and secured the restraining order.

The motion also notes that if the temporary order becomes a permanent one, it would “effectively enable thecops and prosecutors to hide—into perpetuity—all the evidence of Trayford Pellerin’s killing.

Ultimately, the police will be trusted to police themselves,” the motion continued. No transparency to the Lafayette community, no transparency to the media, and worst of all, no transparency to the Pellerin family.”

A hearing over making that temporary order a permanent one will be held Tuesday, Sept. 15.

The motion, which was provided to News 10 by attorneys of the Pellerin family, only represents one side of the story.