Because the articles were prompted by a press release, and did not seem to represent any significant node of new investigative reporting, both Salem Reporter and the Statesman had updates early last night on a development in the trial of DEA Agent Samuel Landis for jaydriving and killing Marganne Allen while she biked home from work.
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| Not seeing it here |
From Marion County District Attorney:
On August 31, 2023, a Marion County Grand Jury indicted Samuel Landis with Criminally Negligent Homicide for causing the death of Marganne Allen on March 28, 2023. Mr. Landis was arraigned in Marion County Circuit Court on September 20, 2023, and the case was assigned to Marion County Circuit Court Judge Tracy Prall.
On October 16, 2023, Landis’ defense team filed a Notice of Removal of State Criminal Prosecution, which if granted, would remove the prosecution from Oregon state court (Marion County Circuit Court) to federal court. Federal law provides law enforcement officers with a potential criminal defense of immunity from prosecution, which is a defense that does not exist under Oregon State Law.
The Marion County District Attorney’s Office objected to the removal and filed written briefs in federal court on the issue. Oral argument occurred on December 12, 2023, in the United States District Court for the District of Oregon in Eugene, Oregon. After hearing argument, U.S. District Court Judge Michael McShane ordered the removal of the case into federal court. Because the case has now been removed from state court, all future proceedings will occur in the United States District Court for the District of Oregon. The Marion County District Attorney’s Office will remain the prosecutorial office on this matter in federal court.
The Marion County District Attorney’s Office has requested the Oregon Department of Justice to review Judge McShane’s removal order and consider an appeal. The Oregon Department of Justice would handle any appeal if they determine that an appeal is appropriate.
The paper added some from the arguments:
Marion County prosecutors said in court documents that Landis showed "grossly negligent actions."
"While conducting surveillance in Salem, Oregon, in which no exigent or emergency circumstances were present, defendant ran a clearly marked stop sign and killed a cyclist as she entered the intersection," prosecutors said in a response filed in federal court.There were no plans to arrest an individual being surveilled that day or to immediately intervene to disrupt the transportation of drugs, prosecutors said.
In their reply, Landis's attorney said he was involved in the crash while "actively surveilling a dangerous fentanyl supplier."
Because he was acting under the color of office, he is entitled to use the federal defense of immunity."In some instances, breaking traffic laws is necessary for law enforcement to do their job; the failure to do so would render them 'ineffective'," his attorneys argued in the reply.
The irony is horrific: Landis' jaydriving rendered Marganne Allen "ineffective" in the ultimate way.
It's also a commentary on our autoism more generally, that there is some banal level of jaydriving we should tolerate, even when it results in death.
Landis admits that he saw the stop sign and stated he believed that he slowed down enough to safely enter the intersection at Southeast Leslie and High Streets where the fatal collision occurred, Marion County prosecutors said in a court filing.
Attorneys representing Landis argued that he and several other undercover officers at the time were surveilling a person suspected of trafficking large amounts of fentanyl in the Salem area.
“Agent Landis, along with other law enforcement, lost visual contact with the target. In trying to regroup and locate the target in furtherance of the investigation, Agent Landis inadvertently collided with a cyclist in an intersection,” his attorneys said in an Oct. 16 filing in Eugene U.S. District Court.
It was just an oopsie, no big deal, an inadvertent accident with a cyclist inconveniently located.
And finally it is a comment on ways the War on Drugs supersedes other moral frames and justifies deaths like Allen's as acceptable collateral damage.
Prospects for justice continue to dim and this case may end up as just one more cop who unjustly benefits from the ways we assign immunity to them.
A trial is scheduled for May in Eugene.
Update, November 26th
And it looks like it's over.
A decade ago in advance of Obergefell v Hodges, in Eugene Federal Judge Michael McShane wrote sensitively and eloquently about gay marriage in Oregon.
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| Rummell and West v. Kitzhaber, May 19th, 2014 |
Yesterday, Salem Reporter says in the latest update, "Judge signals he will drop charges against DEA agent in fatal Salem collision," Judge McShane could only say, "in 'a more just' society, a jury would decide whether the case should proceed."
[McShane] found that Landis “was performing his official duties” and believed it was “necessary and proper” under the circumstances to run the stop sign. He said that prosecutors had not met their burden of proving that no other reasonable officer would have done the same.
A formal decision will be published later, and all the press represent McShane as pretty certain in his preliminary oral comments.
This is just a classic instance of our moment: "There must be in-groups whom the law protects but does not bind, alongside out-groups whom the law binds but does not protect."
Disappointing in so many dimensions, juridical and ethical and political.
6 comments:
Salem Reporter has a little more on the December 12th hearing and decision in an update, "Judge says DEA agent’s duties could justify dropping charge in fatal cyclist collision"
And another update today in, "State will appeal federal judge’s order allowing DEA agent to seek immunity." It's all sealed. There's just so much damn secrecy.
Salem Reporter published a couple of updates this evening. They show a cross-jurisdictional pattern of deference to fellow Police that is at the least a refusal to pursue the facts fully, and at the worst is straight-up lying.
- "New records show drug cartel ties, DEA agent’s actions leading to fatal crash"
- "State asserts DEA agent has no federal immunity for fatal Salem collision"
From Salem Reporter:
"Landis drove along Leslie at what police later calculated was about 37 mph. He tapped his brakes as he approached the intersection, but then let up again as he approached the stop sign he was supposed to obey.
He later couldn’t recall if he stopped. His colleague, Hoagland, said under oath he saw Landis stop.
But residents’ video told a different story. Landis never touched his brakes again as he approached the stop sign.
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Keizer police submitted their initial report to District Attorney Paige Clarkson on May 12.
The report concluded that Landis had disobeyed the stop sign but it wasn’t clear he had engaged in reckless driving or any crime. The officer wrote that he hadn’t been able to question Landis.
“I must give him the benefit of any doubt and attribute this crash to him simply failing to see a traffic stop sign while traveling at least six MPH below the posted speed limit,” a Keizer investigator wrote."
Salem Reporter has an update on the appeal, "Federal judges clear way for DEA agent to claim immunity."
Unsurprisingly, the Judges continue the pattern of unwarranted, but lawful, deference to Police misdeeds.
Interestingly, at Slate the other day, there was a piece on Qualified Immunity, not precisely at issue here, but very much related. In "A Federal Judge Delivers Another Urgent, Scathing Warning About the Supreme Court," they start:
"It takes a lot of courage for a lower court judge to criticize the Supreme Court, but Judge Carlton Reeves has long felt a responsibility to speak candidly to the public about threats to their civil rights. In an opinion on Monday, he calls for the abolition of qualified immunity—a noxious legal doctrine that insulates violent and corrupt government officials, especially law enforcement, from accountability. He embedded this call to action in a broader critique of the Supreme Court’s selective application of precedent—with a focus on the cavalier reversal of Roe v. Wade—as well as its pernicious distrust of democracy. Reeves’ opinion warns all who wish to listen that a broad array of our constitutional liberties are in serious and imminent jeopardy."
It looks like charges will be dropped. Added update from Salem Reporter. If other press add relevant details, this could be further updated or edited.
Salem Reporter has notes today on a family statement, "'Russian Roulette': Husband of cyclist killed in collision with DEA agent speaks out"
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