Peoples v. McKnight

Opinion

UNPUBLISHED

UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE FOURTH CIRCUIT

No. 09-6537

ROBERT PEOPLES,

Plaintiff - Appellant,

v.

PORTER MCKNIGHT, Corporal,

Defendant - Appellee,

and

SCDC; GEORGE HAGAN; SCDC DIRECTOR JON OZMINT; MAJOR BERNARD WALKER; IGC KEN LONG; NFN DUBOSE, Captain; LIEUTENANT ISIAH CANN; CORY JOHNSON, Officer; LATASHA GRANT, Officer; ERIC WILLIAMS, Officer; DARRELL TYLER, Lieutenant; SYLVIA RAWLS, Nurse; RAPID RESPONSE TEAM, All in their individual and official capacities,

Defendants.

Appeal from the United States District Court for the District of South Carolina, at Anderson. Cameron McGowan Currie, District Judge. (8:07-cv-01203-CMC)

Submitted: March 30, 2010 Decided: April 13, 2010

Before WILKINSON, MICHAEL, and KING, Circuit Judges.

Affirmed in part, vacated in part, and remanded by unpublished per curiam opinion. Robert Peoples, Appellant Pro Se. Andrew Todd Darwin, Ginger Goforth, HOLCOMBE, BOMAR, GUNN & BRADFORD, PA, Spartanburg, South Carolina, for Appellee.

Unpublished opinions are not binding precedent in this circuit.

2 PER CURIAM:

Pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1983 (2006), Robert Peoples, a

South Carolina state inmate, filed a complaint alleging that

Defendants violated his civil rights during an incident that

occurred at the Allendale Correctional Institution on April 22,

2004. Peoples alleged that Defendants used excessive force

against him when they sprayed riot gas into his cell following a

disturbance on his wing and then were deliberately indifferent

to his resulting serious medical needs.

Claims against all Defendants except Corporal Porter

McKnight, the corrections officer who actually sprayed the gas,

were dismissed prior to trial. During the course of the trial,

the district court dismissed the deliberate indifference claim.

The jury returned a verdict in favor of McKnight on the

excessive force claim. Peoples timely appealed. For the

reasons that follow, we affirm in part, vacate in part, and

remand for further proceedings.

Peoples contends that the district court erred by

dismissing his deliberate indifference claim before all the

evidence was presented at trial. A careful review of the

pleadings reveals that Peoples did not assert a deliberate

indifference claim against McKnight. Because all other

Defendants were dismissed from the action prior to trial and

Peoples does not challenge their dismissal, we conclude that the

3 district court properly declined to hear evidence on the

deliberate indifference claim.

Peoples next argues that the district court failed to

properly instruct the jury on excessive force. The court based

the instruction given to the jury on Fourth Circuit precedent

established by Norman v. Taylor, 25 F.3d 1259 (4th Cir. 1994)

(en banc), and its progeny. In Norman, we held that “absent the

most extraordinary circumstances, a plaintiff cannot prevail on

an Eighth Amendment excessive force claim if his injury is de

minimis.” Id. at 1263. After Peoples filed his appeal, the

Supreme Court overruled Norman, holding that, while the extent

of an inmate’s injury is relevant in assessing an excessive

force claim, the “core judicial inquiry” in an excessive force

claim focuses on the nature of the force. Wilkins v. Gaddy, 130

S. Ct. 1175, ___, 2010 WL 596513, at *3 (2010).

Accordingly, we vacate the judgment as it pertains to

the excessive force claim against McKnight, and remand for

further proceedings in light of Wilkins v. Gaddy. The district

court’s judgment is affirmed in all other respects. Peoples’

motions for appointment of counsel and for preparation of a

transcript at Government expense are denied. We dispense with

oral argument because the facts and legal contentions are

4 adequately presented in the materials before the court and

argument would not aid the decisional process.

AFFIRMED IN PART, VACATED IN PART, AND REMANDED