State Of Louisiana v. Deborah Shirley

STATE OF LOUISIANA
COURT OF APPEAL, FIRST CIRCUIT

STATE OF LOUISIANA NO. 2026 KW 0014
VERSUS

DEBORAH SHIRLEY JANUARY 09, 2026
In Re: State of Louisiana, applying for supervisory writs,

20th Judicial District Court, Parish of West
Feliciana, No. 22-WFLN-236.

BEFORE : MILLER, EDWARDS, AND FIELDS, JJ.
WRIT DENIED.

SMM
WEF

Edwards, J., dissents and would grant the writ and reverse
the district court’s ruling denying expert testimony by Mr.
Dennis in the field of electronic monitoring systems. I find
merit in the State’s contention that the lower court abused its
discretion. Mr. Dennis has been working extensively with
electronic ankle monitoring for eleven years. At the time of the
hearing, he was the director of the Assured Supervision
Accountability Program which supervises and monitors offenders
released by court order or on bond through bail agents,
throughout Louisiana; a position he’s held since 2014. His
company uses electronic monitoring to track the movements of
individuals to ensure they follow court orders or bond
conditions and monitors an average of 400 offenders at any given
time. During his testimony, Mr. Dennis provided details
regarding the standards and methodology used by his own company
in accordance with his own experience and knowledge. Thus, I
find the State met its burden of showing Mr. Dennis could assist
the trier of fact to understand evidence or determine a fact at
issue and that his practices were the product of reliable
principles and methods and based upon sufficient facts and data.
see la. Code of Evid. art. 702; Daubert v. Merrell Dow
Pharmaceuticals, Inc., 509 U.S. 579, 113 S.Ct. 2786, 125 L.Ed.2d
469 (1993).

“SOURT OF APPEAL, FIRST CIRCUIT

KWEPUTY CLERK OF COURT
(\ FOR THE COURT

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