Pretrial detainee shocked with stun gun gets SCOTUS hearing on excessive-force proof
The U.S. Supreme Court has agreed to decide whether a pretrial detainee who claims jail officers used excessive force when subduing him with a stun gun must prove his jailers had a subjective intent to cause harm.
The court agreed to consider the case of Michael Kingsley on Friday. SCOTUSblog links to documents, including the cert petition (PDF), while the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel has a story.
Kingsley claims his jailers forcibly removed him from his cell at the Monroe County jail in April 2010 after he refused to remove a piece of paper attached to a light in his cell. Kingsley says officers handcuffed him and carried him to another cell where he was placed face down onto a cement bunk.
Officers had trouble removing the handcuffs—they said Kingsley resisted—and pressed a Taser to his back, according to Kingsley’s cert petition. A deputy “tased” Kingsley on his back for five seconds, resulting in extreme pain, the cert petition says.
Kingsley argued he need only show that the jailers’ conduct was objectively unreasonable, the standard in five circuits, the cert petition says. The Chicago-based 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals disagreed; it is among six circuits that require pretrial detainees in excessive force cases to show a subjective intent to violate constitutional rights.
Hat tip to How Appealing.
