No. 20-498

Sonia Garcia, et vir v. Wesley Blevins, et al.

Lower Court: Fifth Circuit
Docketed: 2020-10-16
Status: Denied
Type: Paid
Response Waived
Tags: 4th-amendment civil-rights clearly-established-law constitutional-rights deadly-force fourth-amendment qualified-immunity stare-decisis unpublished-decisions unpublished-opinions
Key Terms:
FourthAmendment
Latest Conference: 2021-01-08
Question Presented (from Petition)

1. The United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit granted qualified immunity reasoning facts demonstrating that a person shot and killed by police had not threatened anyone, was holding a gun pointed down at his side, was not suspected of any crime, and was not fleeing were irrelevant.

Was it clearly established that a person merely holding a gun has a Fourth Amendment right to be free from deadly force?

2. May courts consider unpublished decisions as persuasive authority in resolving the clearly established prong of qualified immunity cases?

Question Presented (AI Summary)

Whether a person holding a gun has a Fourth Amendment right to be free from deadly force

Docket Entries

2021-01-11
Petition DENIED.
2020-12-02
DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 1/8/2021.
2020-10-19
Waiver of right of respondent Wesley Blevins to respond filed.
2020-09-28
Petition for a writ of certiorari filed. (Response due November 16, 2020)

Attorneys

Sonia Garcia
Randall Lee KallinenKallinen Law PLLC, Petitioner
Wesley Blevins
Robert William HiggasonCity of Houston Legal Department, Respondent