Appeals courts allows immunity defense in case of DEA agent who struck, killed Salem woman

A Drug Enforcement Administration agent who struck and killed a Salem woman in March 2023 can move forward with his immunity defense in federal court, according to a ruling this week from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.

The three-panel appeals court judges denied the Oregon Department of Justice's petition to return the case to Marion County Circuit Court, allowing Samuel Landis to have his case tried in federal court.

The case was argued in the Ninth Circuit earlier this month. Landis's attorneys claimed he had shown a plausible defense for immunity and should be allowed to continue the case in federal court.

They said his work duties as a federal agent at the time of the crash made him eligible for immunity from prosecution, even though he may have broken state law.

Attorneys with the Oregon Department of Justice had appealed a federal court's decision to remove the case from state court, and said the case should be returned to Marion County Circuit Court for trial.

The appeals judges agreed with Landis' attorneys.

"Record evidence supports that Defendant’s federal Supremacy Clause immunity defense is colorable," the judges said in their memorandum released Monday. "Grand Jury testimony confirmed that officers sometimes violate traffic laws during surveillance operations and that at least one other officer who was part of the DEA operation during which the collision occurred violated traffic laws to execute his duties effectively."

The case now returns to the U.S. District Court in Eugene.

Fatal March 2023 crash in Salem

Prosecutors say Landis acknowledged he ran a stop sign at High and Leslie streets SE and had no lights or siren on when he hit Marganne Allen while she was riding her bike home from work on March 28, 2023.

Allen, 53, died at nearby Salem Health hospital.

Loved ones and neighbors who responded to the crash regularly add flowers and candles to a memorial at the site of the crash. Allen's family posted a note at the crash site thanking neighbors for caring for Allen until an ambulance arrived and holding a vigil in her honor.

"Marganne was a kind and loving person that would have done the same for you," her family said in the note. "To us, this will always be a sacred place and you will always be our heroes."

Allen, a mother of two, was the program manager for Oregon's Agricultural Water Quality Resources Department, according to state records.

She was remembered as an avid cyclist, high school water polo player and leader in the natural resources community.

Landis, 38, did not face immediate charges, and the case was transferred from Salem Police to Keizer Police due to a potential conflict of interest. Months later, the Marion County District Attorney's Office charged Landis with criminally negligent homicide.

Landis' attorneys argue he is entitled to use the federal defense of immunity under the Supremacy Clause because he was actively surveilling a "dangerous fentanyl supplier" while on duty, and his case was taken out of local circuit court and into federal court.

The move allowed the agent to argue for law enforcement immunity as a possible defense. Federal law provides law enforcement officers with a potential criminal defense of immunity from prosecution. Such a defense does not exist under Oregon state law.

After U.S. District Court Judge Michael McShane ruled the case would be heard in federal court, the Oregon Department of Justice appealed the decision.

DOJ attorneys said Landis failed to put forward evidence that his immunity defense was plausible.

The case then went to the U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in Seattle.

Case argued in Ninth Circuit

Attorneys for Landis have argued there are instances when "breaking traffic laws is necessary for law enforcement to do their job; the failure to do so would render them 'ineffective.'"

In legal filings, his attorney cited the case of a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent who ran a stop sign in southern California, killing three women and injuring two children.

In 2012, a U.S. District Court judge said federal law gave immunity from state prosecution to federal law enforcement officers accused of crimes committed in the course of their duties, according to reporting from the San Diego Union-Tribune.

The judge said that even though the agent wasn't responding to an emergency when he killed the three women, punishing him could have a "chilling" effect on federal agents responding to actual emergencies.

The three manslaughter charges against the ICE agent were dropped.

Marion County prosecutors said Landis was not in danger or responding to an emergency at the time of the crash. There were no plans to arrest an individual being surveilled that day or to immediately stop a drug deal, prosecutors said. Other agents were ahead of him.

Both sides pointed to grand jury testimony supporting their cases during the May 7 hearing.

Oregon Senior Assistant Attorney General Philip Thoennes said Landis's ability to rely on Supremacy Clause immunity hinges on whether his actions were necessary.

"The testimony at the grand jury was that there was no urgency and there was no hot pursuit," Thoennes said. "I want to make that clear for the court."

He argued for the case to return to state court because Landis failed to meet the factual requirement to prove he was entitled to an immunity defense. He did not use lights and sirens, and there was no urgency when Landis violated state law. He had not proven a plausible defense, Thoennes argued.

Landis' attorney, Amy Potter, countered that there is a plausible argument that Landis was acting reasonably.

"It was a mistake of judgment," Potter said. "We know that it was a tragedy that happened."

In hindsight, running the stop sign was the wrong decision, but Landis made a reasonable decision, knowing the "dangerousness of the fentanyl dealer" they were tailing, she added.

Potter said Landis had shown a plausible defense and the federal judge was correct in moving the case out of state court. She asked the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals to allow the case to continue in federal court, where she will argue for dismissal due to Landis's immunity.

Not a lot of case law exists on cases like Landis', but the existing ones support allowing Landis to move forward with his defense, she added.

U.S. Court of Appeals Senior Judge M. Margaret McKeown said the state-submitted petition for a writ of mandamus of the district court's decision was "a high standard to overturn."

"There is no evidence Defendant was deviating from the surveillance operation when he ran the stop sign," the appeals court judges said. "Because evidence supports that Defendant’s actions may have been objectively reasonable under the circumstances, the district court did not clearly err when it concluded Defendant had satisfied his burden of showing that he has a colorable federal defense."

The case now returns to federal court. A hearing date has not yet been set.

For questions, comments and news tips, email reporter Whitney Woodworth at wmwoodworth@statesmanjournal.com call 503-910-6616 or follow on Twitter at @wmwoodwo

This article originally appeared on Salem Statesman Journal: Appeals courts allows immunity defense in Salem DEA agent's case