State of Nebraska, appellee, v.
Porfirio Jimenez Rubio, appellant.

State v. Rubio, 261 Neb. 475

Filed March 23, 2001.   No. S-00-138.

1. Pleadings: Final Orders. A plea in bar is a final, appealable order provided it is a true plea in bar that meets the requirements of Neb. Rev. Stat. § 29-1817 (Reissue 1995).

2. Pleadings: Indictments and Informations. Pursuant to Neb. Rev. Stat. § 29-1817 (Reissue 1995), an accused may offer a plea in bar to the indictment that he or she has before had judgment of acquittal or conviction or been pardoned for the same offense; and to this plea, the county attorney may reply that there is no record of such acquittal or conviction or that there has been no pardon.

3. Statutes. Where the language of a statute is plain and unambiguous, no interpretation is needed and a court is without authority to change such language.

4. ___. It is not within the province of a court to read a meaning into a statute that is not warranted by the language; neither is it within the province of a court to read anything plain, direct, or unambiguous out of a statute.

Petition for further review from the Nebraska Court of Appeals, Hannon, Inbody, and Moore, Judges, on appeal thereto from the District Court for Cheyenne County, Kristine R. Cecava, Judge. Judgment of Court of Appeals reversed, and cause remanded with directions to dismiss.

    Alan G. Stoler and Jerry M. Hug for appellant.

    Don Stenberg, Attorney General, and Ronald D. Moravec for appellee.

    Hendry, C.J., Wright, Connolly, Gerrard, Stephan, McCormack, and Miller-Lerman, JJ.

    McCormack, J. NATURE OF CASE

    This case comes before the court on a petition for further review. Appellant, Porfirio Jimenez Rubio, was charged in state court with drug-related offenses. Rubio filed a plea in bar, based on a federal court's prior determination that the state troopers who seized drugs from Rubio violated his Fourth Amendment rights by conducting an illegal search. The trial court denied the plea in bar, and the Nebraska Court of Appeals affirmed. We granted Rubio's petition for further review. BACKGROUND

    In November 1998, Rubio was stopped on Interstate 80 by two state troopers because he had a visual obstruction hanging from his rearview mirror. The troopers issued him a ticket for the obstruction offense. The troopers suspected that Rubio possessed contraband and eventually searched his car and seized cocaine and methamphetamine contained in a hidden compartment.

    Rubio was originally charged in state court in Cheyenne County, but the charges were dismissed when Rubio was indicted based on the same conduct in the U.S. District Court. Rubio filed a motion to suppress with the U.S. District Court, alleging that his Fourth Amendment rights protecting against unreasonable search and seizure had been violated. The court granted the motion, and the U.S. Attorney