NEW ORLEANS — A federal judge held yesterday that Justice Lab client Nia Mills could proceed to trial in her case against West Baton Rouge Sheriff Officers Allen Connelly, John Gaudet and other deputies for violating her Fourth Amendment rights. United States District Judge Brian A. Jackson held in two orders on November 21, 2024 that the West Baton Rouge Sheriff’s Office is not entitled to qualified immunity, and that a jury should decide if officers unreasonably searched Ms. Mills’s phone, car, purse, and laptop; invaded her privacy; and seized her car and money.
On March 26, 2021, what should have been a routine traffic stop for Ms. Mills became a harrowing ordeal that left her—a Black woman, a mother, and the daughter of a U.S. military veteran—stranded outside a sheriff’s office in a foreign state at night. After being spit at, threatened with deportation, and told her partner had been shot and maimed by a sheriff’s deputy, Ms. Mills was left with no cash and no car to travel the nearly two hundred miles back to her home state.
One year later, the ACLU of Louisiana, the Social Justice Legal Foundation (SJLF) and the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) sued the sheriff of West Baton Rouge Parish on behalf of Ms. Mills. In November 2023, ACLU of Louisiana, SJLF and SPLC together filed a lawsuit asserting that the officers also violated state law by intentionally subjecting her to emotional distress, invading her privacy, and impounding her car.
In its order, the Court held that the officers were not entitled to qualified immunity on any claims because a reasonable jury could agree with Ms. Mills that she was subjected to “an extended illegal detention”—and if so, the detention and all that came after it were “unconstitutional under clearly defined law.” That included trying to obtain Ms. Mills’s consent to the searches through “quintessential coercion,” holding her at the station for nearly six hours while the officers rifled through her belongings and swiped her bank cards, and impounding her car with “absolutely no justification.” Challenging these civil rights violations implicated novel and under-litigated areas of law involving electronic privacy and civil asset forfeiture practices.
“My experience at the hands of the West Baton Rouge Sheriff’s office was extremely traumatizing, yet it is just one example of how a person’s life can be turned upside down when an officer violates your constitutional rights,” said Ms. Nia Mills.
“The court ruled yesterday that Ms. Mills, an ACLU of Louisiana Justice Lab client, can proceed with her case to trial – a resounding , albeit difficult and heavily litigated win, as qualified immunity was asserted at every turn,” said Nora Ahmed, legal director at the ACLU of Louisiana. “Officers lied to Ms. Mills when they told her they had shot her partner, and they lied to Ms. Mills when they told her she had no rights. When we launched Justice Lab in the summer of 2020, we knew it was critical to assert rarely litigated constitutional claims on behalf of those who would never see their day in court absent pro bono assistance. We are proud to fight for Ms. Mills rights and the work the Justice Lab has done.”
“Sheriff’s deputies stopped Ms. Mills for the slightest of technical violations—her left tire touching the solid yellow line on a highway—and then they chose to violate the United States Constitution, the Louisiana Constitution, and, frankly, the basic rules of human dignity that should govern us all in these times,” said Marjorie Menza, Senior Attorney at SJLF.
“The abuse Ms. Mills and her partner suffered at the hands of law enforcement is egregious. The Court’s rulings today allow her the opportunity to continue to tell her story and is a warning to these officers that they cannot violate the law and hide behind qualified immunity,” said Vanessa Domenichelli, Senior Attorney at SJLF.
“These rulings allow Ms. Mills her day in court, and SPLC is honored to stand by her side to prove what we already know – that officers with the West Baton Rouge Sheriff’s Office engaged in unconstitutional police misconduct.” said Emily Lubin, senior staff attorney at SPLC.
The ACLU Justice Lab initiative is dedicated to holding law enforcement agencies accountable through high-impact lawsuits. With a history of over 50 cases across Louisiana, including Mills v. Connelly, the Justice Lab works to challenge and address civil rights violations, striving to create a more just and equitable legal system. For more information, visit aclujusticelab.org.