Kingsley v. Hendrickson

• Decision Date: 22 June 2015
• Docket Number: No. 14-6368.,14-6368.
• Citation: 575 U.S. 959,135 S.Ct. 2466,192 L.Ed.2d 435
• Parties: Michael B. KINGSLEY, Petitioner v. Stan HENDRICKSON, et al.
• Court: U.S. Supreme Court

575 U.S. 959

135 S.Ct. 2466

192 L.Ed.2d 435

Michael B. KINGSLEY, Petitioner

v.Stan HENDRICKSON, et al.

No. 14-6368.

Supreme Court of United States.

Decided June 22, 2015.

Justice BREYER delivered the opinion of the Court.

In this case, an individual detained in a jail prior to trial brought a claim under Rev. Stat. § 1979, 42 U.S.C. § 1983, against several jail officers, alleging that they used excessive force against him, in violation of the Fourteenth Amendment's Due Process Clause. The officers concede that they intended to use the force that they used. But the parties disagree about whether the force used was excessive.

The question before us is whether, to prove an excessive force claim, a pretrial detainee must show that the officers were subjectively aware that their use of force was unreasonable, or only that the officers' use of that force was objectively unreasonable. We conclude that the latter standard is the correct one.

I

A

Some but not all of the facts are undisputed: Michael Kingsley, the petitioner, was arrested on a drug charge and detained in a Wisconsin county jail prior to trial. On the evening of May 20, 2010, an officer performing a cell check noticed a piece of paper covering the light fixture above Kingsley's bed. The officer told Kingsley to remove it; Kingsley refused; subsequently other officers told Kingsley to remove the paper; and each time Kingsley refused. The next morning, the jail administrator, Lieutenant Robert Conroy, ordered Kingsley to remove the paper. Kingsley once again refused. Conroy then told Kingsley that officers would remove the paper and that he would be moved to a receiving cell in the interim.

Shortly thereafter, four officers, including respondents Sergeant Stan Hendrickson and Deputy Sheriff Fritz Degner, approached the cell and ordered Kingsley to stand, back up to the door, and keep his hands behind him. When Kingsley refused to comply, the officers handcuffed him, forcibly removed him from the cell, carried him to a receiving cell, and placed him face down on a bunk with his hands handcuffed behind his back.

The parties' views about what happened next differ. The officers testified that Kingsley resisted their efforts to remove his handcuffs. Kingsley testified that he did not resist. All agree that Sergeant Hendrickson placed his knee in Kingsley's back and Kingsley told him in impolite language to get off. Kingsley testified that Hendrickson and Degner then slammed his head into the concrete bunk — an allegation the officers deny.

The parties agree, however, about what happened next: Hendrickson directed Degner to stun Kingsley with a Taser; Degner applied a Taser to Kingsley's back for approximately five seconds; the officers then left the handcuffed Kingsley alone in the receiving cell; and officers returned to the cell 15 minutes later and removed Kingsley's handcuffs.

B

Based on these and related events, Kingsley filed a § 1983 complaint in Federal District Court claiming (among other things) that Hendrickson and Degner used excessive force against him, in violation of the Fourteenth Amendment's Due Process Clause. The officers moved for summary judgment, which the District Court denied, stating that "a reasonable jury could conclude that [the officers] acted with malice and intended to harm [Kingsley] when they used force against him." Kingsley v. Josvai, No. 10-cv-832-bbc (WD Wis., Nov. 16, 2011), App to Pet. for Cert. 66a-67a. Kingsley's excessive force claim accordingly proceeded to trial. At the conclusion of the trial, the District Court instructed the jury as follows:

"Excessive force means force applied recklessly that is unreasonable in light of the facts and circumstances of the time. Thus, to succeed on his claim of excessive use of force, plaintiff must prove each of the following factors by a preponderance of the evidence:

"(1) Defendants used force on plaintiff;

"(2) Defendants' use of force was unreasonable in light of the facts and circumstances at the time;

"(3) Defendants knew that using force presented a risk of harm to plaintiff, but they recklessly disregarded plaintiff's safety by failing to take reasonable measures to minimize the risk of harm to plaintiff; and

"(4) Defendants' conduct caused some harm to plaintiff.

"In deciding whether one or more defendants used `unreasonable' force against plaintiff, you must consider whether it was unreasonable from the perspective of a reasonable officer facing the same circumstances that defendants faced. You must make this decision based on what defendants knew at the time of the incident, not based on what you know now.

"Also, in deciding whether one or more defendants used unreasonable force and acted with reckless disregard of plaintiff's rights, you may consider factors such as:

"• The need to use force;

"• The relationship between the need to use force and the amount of force used;

"• The extent of plaintiff's injury;

"• Whether defendants reasonably believed there was a threat to the safety of staff or prisoners; and

"• Any efforts made by defendants to limit the amount of force used." App. 277-278 (emphasis added).

The jury found in the officers' favor.

On appeal, Kingsley argued that the correct standard for judging a pretrial detainee's excessive force claim is objective unreasonableness. And, the jury instruction, he said, did not hew to that standard. A panel of the Court of Appeals disagreed, with one judge dissenting. The majority held that the law required a "subjective inquiry" into the officer's state of mind. There must be "`an actual intent to violate [the plaintiff's] rights or reckless disregard for his rights.'" 744 F.3d 443, 451 (C.A.7 2014) (quoting Wilson v. Williams, 83 F.3d 870, 875 (C.A.7 1996)). The dissent would have used instructions promulgated by the Committee on Pattern Civil Jury Instructions of the Seventh Circuit, which require a pretrial detainee claiming excessive force to show only that the use of force was objectively unreasonable. 744 F.3d, at 455 (opinion of Hamilton, J.); see Pattern Civ. Jury Instr. § 7.08 (2009). The dissent further stated that the District Court's use of the word "reckless" in the jury instruction added "an unnecessary and confusing element." 744 F.3d, at 455.

Kingsley filed a petition for certiorari asking us to determine whether the requirements of a § 1983 excessive force claim brought by a pretrial detainee must satisfy the subjective standard or only the objective standard. In light of disagreement among the Circuits, we agreed to do so. Compare, e.g., Murray v. Johnson No. 260, 367 Fed.Appx. 196, 198 (C.A.2 2010); Bozeman v. Orum, 422 F.3d 1265, 1271 (C.A.11 2005) (per curiam), with Aldini v. Johnson, 609 F.3d 858, 865-866 (C.A.6 2010); Young v. Wolfe, 478 Fed.Appx. 354, 356 (C.A.9 2012).

II

A

We consider a legally requisite state of mind. In a case like this one, there are, in a sense, two separate state-of-mind questions. The first concerns the defendant's state of mind with respect to his physical acts — i.e., his state of mind with respect to the bringing about of certain physical consequences in the world. The second question concerns the defendant's state of mind with respect to whether his use of force was "excessive." Here, as to the first question, there is no dispute. As to the second, whether to interpret the defendant's physical acts in the world as involving force that was "excessive," there is a dispute. We conclude with respect to that question that the relevant standard is objective not subjective. Thus, the defendant's state of mind is not a matter that a plaintiff is required to prove.

Consider the series of physical events that take place in the world — a series of events that might consist, for example, of the swing of a fist that hits a face, a push that leads to a fall, or the shot of a Taser that leads to the stunning of its recipient. No one here denies, and we must assume, that, as to the series of events that have taken place in the world, the defendant must possess a purposeful, a knowing, or possibly a reckless state of mind. That is because, as we have stated, "liability for negligently inflicted harm is categorically beneath the threshold of constitutional due process." County of Sacramento v. Lewis, 523 U.S. 833, 849, 118 S.Ct. 1708, 140 L.Ed.2d 1043 (1998) (emphasis added). See also Daniels v. Williams, 474 U.S. 327, 331, 106 S.Ct. 662, 88 L.Ed.2d 662 (1986) ("Historically, this guarantee of due process has been applied to deliberate decisions of government officials to deprive a person of life, liberty, or property"). Thus, if an officer's Taser goes off by accident or if an officer unintentionally trips and falls on a detainee, causing him harm, the pretrial detainee cannot prevail on an excessive force claim. But if the use of force is deliberate — i.e., purposeful or knowing — the pretrial detainee's claim may proceed. In the context of a police pursuit of a suspect the Court noted, though without so holding, that recklessness in some cases might suffice as a standard for imposing liability. See Lewis, supra, at 849, 118 S.Ct. 1708. Whether that standard might suffice for liability in the case of an alleged mistreatment of a pretrial detainee need not be decided here; for the officers do not dispute that they acted purposefully or knowingly with respect to the force they used against Kingsley.

We now consider the question before us here — the defendant's state of mind with respect to the proper interpretation of the force (a series of events in the world) that the defendant deliberately (not accidentally or negligently) used. In deciding whether the force deliberately used is, constitutionally speaking, "excessive," should courts use an objective standard only, or instead a subjective standard that takes into account a defendant's state of mind? It is with respect to this question that we hold that courts must use an objective standard. In short, we agree with the dissenting...