On Wednesday, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit heard oral argument for a special appeal in Betton v. Belue (18-1974). The case stems from a federal civil rights lawsuit brought by Julian Betton, who was shot and paralyzed when police officers raided his home on a marijuana charge. Officer David Belue was one of several South Carolinian 15th District Drug Enforcement Unit (DEU) officers who participated in the raid, and this week’s argument was his appeal of the district court’s denial of qualified immunity for his actions.
By now, regular readers know that Cato has been leading a campaign to abolish the qualified immunity doctrine, which unlawfully shields police officers from civil liability for violating individuals’ constitutional rights. Although the oral argument indicates that Officer Belue is going to lose his appeal, the case nevertheless shows that our civil rights laws are essential to curbing the hyperviolent police conduct that can lead to unnecessary deaths and injuries.
The facts of the case, as established by the district court, state that DEU officers used a battering ram to knock-down and enter Mr. Betton’s home without identifying themselves as officers, nor were any of the officers wearing police uniforms or other obvious indications that they were law enforcement. Mr. Betton withdrew a gun from his waistband and had it by his side when he was struck by 9 of 29 rounds fired by the intruding officers. Each of the participating officers falsely claimed that they had knocked and announced their presence before breaking into the home. At least some of the officers also falsely claimed that Mr. Betton had raised his weapon and had shot at the officers before they returned fire. For the use of force from this botched raid, Officer Belue sought qualified immunity.
In the audio file posted on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit website, the empaneled judges seemed uniformly outraged by the conduct of the officers during this raid. In particular, Judge Barbara Milano Keenan lamented, “It’s so shocking what happened in this case for a two-bit marijuana deal.”
Read more at https://www.cato.org/blog/we-give-qualified-immunity-just-about-everybody
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