Opinion ID: 68578
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Existence of a Clearly Established Right

Text: Even if we found, contrary to our above conclusion, that Zemlik violated Manis's Fourth Amendment rights, summary judgment in favor of Zemlik would still be appropriate because his conduct was objectively reasonable in light of the clearly established legal rules at the time of the shooting. To overcome the affirmative defense of qualified immunity, a plaintiff must show that the government official violated clearly established statutory or constitutional rights of which a reasonable person would have known. Harlow v. Fitzgerald, 457 U.S. 800, 818, 102 S.Ct. 2727, 2738, 73 L.Ed.2d 396 (1982). Qualified immunity shields from civil liability all but the plainly incompetent or those who knowingly violate the law. Malley v. Briggs, 475 U.S. 335, 341, 106 S.Ct. 1092, 1096, 89 L.Ed.2d 271 (1986). If the law at the time of a constitutional violation does not give the officer fair notice that his conduct is unlawful, the officer is immune from suit. Brosseau v. Haugen, 543 U.S. 194, 198, 125 S.Ct. 596, 599, 160 L.Ed.2d 583 (2004). This standard thus protects an officer with a mistaken, yet reasonable, understanding of the law from the hazy border between excessive and acceptable force. Id at 201, 125 S.Ct. at 600 (quoting Saucier v. Katz, 533 U.S. 194, 206, 121 S.Ct. 2151, 2158, 150 L.Ed.2d 272 (2001)). Accordingly, the objective legal reasonableness of an officer's conduct must be assessed in light of the legal rules that were `clearly established' at the time of his action. Anderson v. Creighton, 483 U.S. 635, 639, 107 S.Ct. 3034, 3038, 97 L.Ed.2d 523 (1987) (citation omitted). A right is clearly established if, in light of preexisting law, the unlawfulness of an action would be apparent to a reasonable officer. Id. at 640, 107 S.Ct. at 3039. The inquiry here is whether, under the law in effect at the time that Zemlik shot Manis, no reasonable officer could have believed deadly force was lawful when a suspect disobeyed commands to show his hands, moved his hands out of the officer's line of sight, and appeared to retrieve a weapon. [4] Before October 2005, Supreme Court precedent and cases in this circuit authorized deadly force when an officer had probable cause to believe that the suspect pose[d] a threat of serious physical harm. See, e.g., Tennessee v. Garner, 471 U.S. 1, 11-12, 105 S.Ct. 1694, 1701, 85 L.Ed.2d 1 (1985); Reese v. Anderson, 926 F.2d 494, 500-01 (5th Cir.1991); Young v. City of Killeen, TX., 775 F.2d 1349, 1352-53 (5th Cir.1985). Applying that precedent, this court upheld the use of deadly force when a suspect reached below an officer's sight line in defiance of contrary orders and appeared to retrieve a gun. See Reese, 926 F.2d at 501; Young, 775 F.2d at 1353. Thus, far from clearly establishing that Zemlik's conduct was unlawful, the controlling authority in this jurisdiction did not prohibit his use of deadly force in the similar situation confronting him. Moreover, even if contrary authority existed, the cases taken together [would] undoubtedly show that this area is one in which the result depends very much on the facts of each case and certainly would not clearly establish that Zemlik's conduct violated the Fourth Amendment. Brosseau v. Haugen, 543 U.S. 194, 201, 125 S.Ct. 596, 600, 160 L.Ed.2d 583 (2004). Therefore, Zemlik's actions were objectively reasonable under clearly established law, and he is entitled to qualified immunity.