NEW ORLEANS (AP) -- A former Shreveport police officer did not use excessive force when he fatally shot a paraplegic black man in 1998, a federal appeals court has ruled.

Monday's ruling by the 5th U.S.Circuit Court of Appeals may not be the final say in the case though. The case could be headed for the U.S. Supreme Court within a month, said Hersey Jones Jr., attorney for plaintiff Marion Harris. Her son, Cedric Harris, 27, was killed July 24, 1998, by then-city patrol officer Justin Olds.

Olds told jurors he stopped Cedric Harris for blocking the road in his wheelchair and that in a subsequent pat-down search he detected a gun. Olds testified he was forced to shoot Harris in a struggle over the gun.

Jones produced two witnesses that claimed they did not see Harris resist.

This one could go to the Supreme Court.