https://www.statesmanjournal.com/story/news/crime/2024/05/07/dea-agent-fatal-crash/73542632007/
Attorneys for a Drug Enforcement Agency agent who struck and killed a Salem woman riding her bicycle in March 2023 argued Tuesday before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit that he had shown a plausible defense for immunity and should be allowed to continue, and seek dismissal of, his criminal case in federal court.
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.
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.
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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.