[StBernard] St. Bernard Parish President Dave Peralta pleaded not guilty to sexual battery

[Westley Annis]

St. Bernard Parish President Dave Peralta pleaded not guilty to sexual
battery

Print Benjamin Alexander-Bloch, NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune By Benjamin
Alexander-Bloch, NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune 
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on July 15, 2014 at 8:03 PM, updated July 15, 2014 at 8:08 PM

Without fanfare, and with a gag order preventing attorneys from discussing
the case, St. Bernard Parish President Dave Peralta pleaded not guilty last
week to a charge of sexual battery of his wife.

A parish grand jury on April 23 indicted him on that charge. He turned
himself in to the Chalmette jail the next day and was released on a $20,000
bond.

His wife, Sharon Schaefer, has accused him of raping her at their Meraux
home last fall. Peralta has said the sex was consensual and that he didn't
rape his wife.

The arraignment in the Chalmette courtroom occurred on Thursday (July 10),
after Judge Frank Foil ordered on June 27 that no one "make any public
comments regarding matters pertaining the this case, except in court
proceedings."

Before the gag order, attorneys had indicated the arraignment would take
place next Wednesday (July 23). There were no filings in the court's
electronic record available Tuesday night that indicated why the arraignment
was held July 10. The arraignment came a day after his divorce with his
wife, Sharon Schaefer, was made official on July 9.

The minutes from that Thursday hearing simply state that Peralta pleaded not
guilty. The document also said Assistant Attorney General David
Weilbaeacher, who is prosecuting the case, filed a motion for the production
of emails and that a hearing on that motion is to be held on Oct. 15.

That motion was placed under seal and so was not publicly available.