City of Baton Rouge v. Joseph Lee Kennerson

STATE OF LOUISIANA COURT OF APPEAL, FIRST CIRCUIT CITY OF BATON ROUGE NO. 2026 KW 0162 VERSUS JOSEPH LEE KENNERSON JUNE 1, 2026 In Re: City of Baton Rouge, applying for supervisory writs, Baton Rouge City Court, Parish of East Baton Rouge, No. 25-AC-001622S.

BEFORE : THERIOT, BALFOUR, AND HAGGERTY,! JJ.

WRIT GRANTED. The trial court abused its discretion by not allowing the City to present the testimony of the investigating officer to authenticate the video footage in question. There are several ways of authentication or identification of evidence. One method of authenticating evidence is testimony by a witness with personal knowledge that the matter is what it is claimed to be. see La. Code Evid. art. 901(B) (1); State v. Rice, 2017-0446 (ha.

6/29/17), 222 So.3d 32 (per curiam). Furthermore, the person who authenticates video footage need not be the one who originally recorded the video if the person has knowledge that the video is what the proponent claims it to be and can provide information about the content of the footage. See e.g., State v. Groves, 2020- 0450 (La. App. 4th Cir. 6/10/21), 323 So.3d 957, 977; see also State in Interest of K.B., 2023-0409 (La. App. 4th Cir. 9/26/23), 372 So.3d 864, writ denied, 2023-01421 (La. 4/3/24), 382 So.3d 106. Accordingly, the trial court’s ruling is vacated and this matter is remanded for further proceedings in line with this ruling.

MRT KEB BDH OURT OF APPEAL, FIRST CIRCUIT Be oo \ Lua A) OK na EPUTY CLERK OF COURT FOR THE COURT gon ' Haggerty, J., serving pro tempore, by special appointment of the Louisiana Supreme Court.