Stair v. Jackson

Issue: (1) Whether the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 8th Circuit departed from the Supreme Court"s decisions in Graham v. Connor and Plumhoff v. Rickard in denying qualified immunity to the petitioner, Billy Stair, based upon the absence of a constitutional violation by assessing the reasonableness of each of three Taser activations over a 19-second period, instead of assessing the reasonableness of Stair"s conduct in light of the totality of the circumstances; and (2) whether the 8th Circuit departed from the Supreme Court"s decision in Kisela v. Hughes and numerous other cases by denying qualified immunity even though two judges concluded the use of force was reasonable, and notwithstanding the absence of clearly established law imposing liability under circumstances closely analogous to those confronting Stair.