Judge Toby Heytens, who President Biden nominated to the US Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit, cast the deciding vote to partly overturn a lower court ruling and allow a lawsuit against police to proceed by a woman who was shot and injured during police pursuit of her boyfriend. Judge Roger Gregory wrote the opinion, to which conservative Judge J. Harvie Wilkinson dissented. The August 2024 decision was in Quinn v Zerkle.
What is the background of this case?
Police approached Eric Toon because the passenger on a motorcycle he was driving was not wearing a helmet. Toon led police on a chase at speeds “sometime exceeding 100 mph” and ended up at the house in Charleston, West Virginia, which he shared with his sleeping girlfriend. State troopers banged on and pulled at the front door, which “somehow” became unlocked. Police entered the house, and almost immediately Toon broke his bedroom window and jumped out, armed with an AR-15 gun. His girlfriend Taylor Quinn, who had suggested talking with the police, then came out the window, unarmed.
Toon grabbed the rife and pointed it towards an officer while on the ground. Several officers opened fired and killed Toon. They also shot Quinn, who lost consciousness and, when she awoke, was lying on the ground bleeding. She received treatment at a hospital. No criminal charges were filed.
Quinn and Toon’s estate filed federal civil rights lawsuits against the police, contending they had committed unlawful entry of the house and used excessive force. The district court granted summary judgment in favor of the police. Quinn and the estate appealed to the Fourth Circuit.
How did Judge Heytens and the Fourth Circuit Rule and Why is it Important?
All three judges on the court of appeals panel agreed that summary judgment for the police was proper as to the claim of use of excessive force against Toon. But Judge Heytens cast the decisive vote in a 2-1ruling by Judge Gregory that the lower court was wrong to rule for the police and prevent Quinn from presenting to a jury her case concerning use of excessive force and unlawful entry of the house.
Based on the record and applicable case law, Judge Gregory explained that the police’s theory that the unexplained opening of the front door somehow constituted consent for them to enter was wrong and “troubling.” This theory, he went on, would mean that police would magically obtain consent to enter any house if a door opened “because of the wind, a child, a pet, or simply because the lock malfunctioned.” It must be up to a jury, not a lower court judge, to “weigh the evidence” and determine whether “implied consent” justified the police’s warrantless entry into the home. Similarly, Gregory wrote, although the officer who shot Quinn claimed he was aiming at Toon, the record would allow a jury to conclude that he shot at and hit Quinn, “rendering his use of force against her intentional and potentially unconstitutional.”
Judge Heytens’ deciding vote was obviously important to Taylor Quinn and her effort to get justice for the injuries and violations of her rights that she has pursued. The ruling also provides an important precedent in cases concerning alleged police misconduct, particularly in the Fourth Circuit, which includes West Virgina, Virginia, Maryland, and North and South Carolina. The ruling also serves as a reminder of the importance of promptly confirming fair-minded judges to our federal courts.