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Pickens v. Aldaba

Petition granted, judgment vacated and case remanded for further consideration in light of Mullenix v. Luna on November 9, 2015.
Docket No. Op. Below Argument Opinion Vote Author Term
14-1492 10th Cir. N/A N/A N/A N/A OT 2015

Issue: (1) Whether the District Court erred in denying qualified immunity to the petitioners, law enforcement officers who in an attempt to detain an agitated and aggressive person who needed to be detained, resorted to use of a Taser device (after failed verbal warning and attempts to calm the person) in order to avoid or minimize a hands-on-encounter that was very likely to be dangerous to the individual and the officers' safety and well-being; (2) whether it is a constitutional violation for a law enforcement officer who must detain an agitated and aggressive person to resort to use of a Taser device (after failed verbal warning and attempts to calm the person) in order to avoid or minimize a hands-on-encounter that is very likely to be dangerous to the officer's safety and well-being; and (3) whether the existing law would make it clear to a reasonable law enforcement officer that it violated the law to use a Taser to avoid or minimize the hands-on-encounter with the aggressive person, when that person: i) is clenching and shaking his fists at the officer; ii) has caused hospital staff to be too scared to try to detain him; iii) claims that he is “God” and “Superman,” that the doctors are trying to kill him, and that “only water is pure enough to save him”; and iv) is bleeding from his arms where he removed his own IV tubing which would expose the officers to risk of facial contact with the blood during a hands-on-altercation.

DateProceedings and Orders (key to color coding)
Jun 17 2015Petition for a writ of certiorari filed. (Response due July 20, 2015)
Aug 5 2015DISTRIBUTED for Conference of September 28, 2015.
Aug 7 2015Response Requested . (Due September 8, 2015)
Aug 18 2015Order extending time to file response to petition to and including October 8, 2015.
Oct 7 2015Brief of respondent Erma Aldaba, Personal Representative and Next of Kin of Johnny Manuel Leija, Deceased in opposition filed.
Oct 21 2015DISTRIBUTED for Conference of November 6, 2015.
Oct 26 2015Reply of petitioners Brandon Pickens, James Atnip, and Steve Beebe filed. (Distributed)
Nov 9 2015Petition GRANTED. Judgment VACATED and case REMANDED for further consideration in light of Mullenix v. Luna, 577 U. S. __ (2015) (per curiam).
Dec 11 2015JUDGMENT ISSUED.