Stage is set for injustice

A number of readers have pointed out to me this news, that the federal narc who blew through a stop sign in his pickup and killed a Salem woman on a bicycle in a quiet residential neighborhood is going to be tried in federal, rather than state, court on charges of criminally negligent homicide. And in federal court, he'll argue that he has immunity because he was on some kind of undercover mission at the time.

I don't know. The guy, Samuel Landis, is an agent from the federal Drug Enforcement Agency. Those dudes are known to include some really bad apples. And they're in such cahoots with the Salem police that the latter turned the case over to Andy and Barney over in Keizer.

The Marion County D.A. objected to transferring the case to federal court, but the federal judge, Michael McShane, overruled.

Marion County prosecutors Ashley Cadotte and David Wilson 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.

The prosecutors said Landis admitted to running the stop sign and had no lights or sirens on when he entered the intersection in an unmarked vehicle.

There were no plans to arrest an individual being surveilled that day or to immediately intervene to disrupt the transportation of drugs, prosecutors said....

"(Landis) is not being prosecuted for carrying out his federal duties, rather, he is being prosecuted for driving his vehicle in a grossly negligent manner that resulted in the death of an individual," prosecutors said. "There is nomeaningful connection between defendant’s federal duties and his conduct of running a stop sign and killing a cyclist."

Did anybody give Landis a drug test as he stood around, not helping the victim? If they didn't, why not?

Anyway, the trial is now set for May in federal court in Eugene, unless the unlikely happens and the order moving the case is overturned on appeal. It's interesting that you can't find a photo of Landis anywhere. I guess that's so that killing this woman does not disrupt his career as a narc. If he just walks away from this, it will be a real shame.

At least the Salem Reporter and a journalist named Ardeshir Tabrizian are keeping a close eye on it. If it weren't for them, we may have never heard about the case at all. The rug down in Salem has a lot of room underneath it.