Raines v. Burningham

The guardian of John Raines IV's estate filed suit against defendants after Raines was shot at twenty-one times and became paralyzed from his gunshot injuries. The Eighth Circuit dismissed defendants' appeal from the district court's denial of summary judgment based on qualified immunity. The court held that, while it had jurisdiction to determine whether conduct constituted a violation of clearly established law, it lacked jurisdiction to determine whether evidence could support a finding that a particular conduct occurred at all. In this case, whether the officers reasonably believed Raines posed a sufficient threat depended on what occurred, and the district court was unable to make this determination based on the evidence presented. Therefore, the court lacked jurisdiction to determine the key factual question about whether Raines advanced on the officer just before being shot. View "Raines v. Burningham" on Justia Law