BATON ROUGE, La. (BRPROUD) – Attorney General Landry hosted a news conference Tuesday “to provide details on the Landry v Gallo litigation and discuss human resource issues at the Louisiana Department of Justice. “

Landry defended the actions of his office towards sexual harassment complaints against former head of the criminal division, Pat Magee. 

In March 2021, Magee resigned after a second sexual harassment complaint.

Landry says the member in his office who reported Magee’s allegations has also resigned.

“This high level employee, it’s important to remember what Sandra said earlier. Had a duty and obligation to report concerns at the moment he encountered them, not months or years after the fact,” he said. “We obtained evidence that this high level employee who had been with the department prior to my arrival, engaged inappropriate and unprofessional communications that is sexist in nature with and about DOJ employees and third parties.”

While Landry did not mention names, according to The Advocate the person who resigned is Assistant Attorney General Matthew Derbes.

Landry announced former Orleans Parish District Attorney Leon Cannizzaro will be the new co-director of the criminal division in the AG’s office.

According to Attorney General Jeff Landry’s office, an outside legal source found that complaints against Magee were not sexual harassment but inappropriate behavior.

“The independent outside investigation revealed that the conduct was inappropriate but not sufficiently severe to be a hostile work environment,” said Sandra Schober, Deputy Director of the Attorney General. “I did determine that there were inappropriate verbal conversations, inappropriate language and unprofessional comments towards other employees.” 

The full press conference is available below.