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Shanika Day, et al. v. Franklin Wooten, et al.

Paid petition · United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit, No. 19-1930 · judgment January 10, 2020

Certiorari denied · February 22, 2021
Pre-decision estimate: 1% cert probability

Before the decision, well below the 4.1% base rate, with no standout signals pointing toward a grant.

Questions presented

A law enforcement officer is not entitled to qualified immunity in a § 1983 excessive force action if he violated a constitutional right which was clearly established at the time of the violation.

  1. Does an arrestee crying “I can’t breathe!” multiple times have a clearly established right to have his difficulty breathing considered by officers in their handcuff and adverse body position, resulting in the inability to consume oxygen by the arrestee, even if the arrestee does not specifically state, prior to dying, that the position he is being held and handcuffs are causing or exacerbating his asphyxiation?

  2. Does an asphyxiating arrestee have a clearly established right to be free from excessively tight handcuffs that are restricting his breathing, even if the arrestee does not specifically state, prior to dying, that the tightness of the handcuffs is the cause?

Counsel of record

For petitioner
Nathaniel Lee
Lee, Cossell and Crowley LLP

For respondent
Donald Eugene Morgan
Taft Stettinius & Hollister

Case

Conference history
Distributed for 2 conferences

Proceedings

  1. Feb 22 2021
    Petition DENIED. Justice Barrett took no part in the consideration or decision of this petition.
  2. Feb 22 2021
    Record returned to the USDC-Southern District of Indiana (1 envelope).
  3. Feb 03 2021
    Reply of petitioner Shanika Day filed. (Distributed)
  4. Jan 20 2021
    DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 2/19/2021.
  5. Jan 04 2021
    Brief of respondents Franklin Wooten, et al. in opposition filed.
  6. Dec 01 2020
    Record received from the USDC-Southern District of Indiana. The record is electronic (1 envelope).
  7. Nov 19 2020
    Motion to extend the time to file a response is granted and the time is extended to and including January 4, 2021.
  8. Nov 13 2020
    Motion to extend the time to file a response from December 2, 2020 to January 4, 2021, submitted to The Clerk.
  9. Nov 13 2020
    Record received from the USCA-7th Circuit. The record is electronic and available on PACER.
  10. Nov 02 2020
    Record Requested.
  11. Nov 02 2020
    Response Requested. (Due December 2, 2020)
  12. Oct 28 2020
    DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 11/13/2020.
  13. Oct 15 2020
    Waiver of right of respondent Franklin Wooten, et al. to respond filed.
  14. Oct 05 2020
    Petition for a writ of certiorari filed. (Response due November 12, 2020)