Matthew Anderson v. John Bonnewell, et al.

The questions presented are:

1. Whether a trial court can disregard the five factors set forth in Whitley v. Albers, 475 U.S. 312 (1986), in an Eighth Amendment excessive force case in favor of deferring solely to the correctional officers’ perception of the incident and insist upon direct evidence that the officers had the specific intent of malice and sadism.

2. Whether a trial court can consider a video of a beating of an inmate in a prison, which the trial court expressly acknowledges has limitations, in order to reject the inmate’s account of what happened to him for purposes of summary judgment in an Eighth Amendment excessive force case when, at the time the footage was taken, he was covered in a “scrum” of correctional officers and another correctional officer’s body blocked parts of the camera’s view of the incident.