Court Opinion

ID: 9395312
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-05-17 18:04:58.143682+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:19:07.312966
License: Public Domain

STATE OF LOUISIANA

            COURT OF APPEAL, FIRST CIRCUIT

STATE       OF         LOUISIANA                                                                        NO.        2023     KW    0462

VERSUS

KERON         D.       LANDRY                                                                                MAY      17,        2023

In    Re:               Keron         D.     Landry,     applying                 for    supervisory                  writs,           23rd
                        Judicial                District   Court,                   Parish             of      Ascension,               No.
                        46260.

BEFORE:                 GUIDRY,            C. J.,     WOLFE       AND       MILLER,          JJ.

        WRIT            GRANTED.                The      traffic            stop,       detention,                  and    search        of

relator' s              trailer and vehicle were captured on the investigating
officer'           s    body camera.  The  video  is the  best   evidence of what

occurred                 during  this   incident.       The    totality   of  the

circumstances
                                existing              at       the    time        of    the        stop        did        not     create

reasonable                   suspicion              of     a     drug           crime        or    any             other        criminal

activity.                    See      United          States          v.    Cortez,              449    U.    S.     411,        417- 18,
101      S.    Ct.           690,          66       L. Ed. 2d         621 (       1981).                Absent             reasonable

suspicion                of         additional                 criminal           activity,                  waiting             for     or

conducting a dog                       sniff cannot prolong a stop justified by only a
traffic             violation              beyond          the       amount       of    time           reasonably              required
to     complete                 the         mission              of        issuing           a     traffic            ticket            and

attending               to     related              safety concerns.                     See       Rodriguez               v.     United
States,             575       U. S.        348,      135  S. Ct. 1609,                   191       L. Ed. 2d          492 (       2015).
Therefore,                the       district             court        abused           its       discretion               in     denying
the     motion               to       suppress.                  Accordingly,                    the        district             court'    s

ruling             is    reversed,               the     motion            is    granted,              and     this        matter        is
remanded               for    further           proceedings.

                                                                      JMG
                                                                      EW
                                                                      SMM

COURT       OF         APPEAL,         FIRST         CIRCUIT

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