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14.2: Tennessee v. Garner

  • Page ID
    54434
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    PETITIONER                                                                                 RESPONDENT

    Tennessee                                                                                 Garner

    LOCATION

    House where alleged robbery took place

    DOCKET NO.                                                                                  DECIDED BY

    81-430                                                                                       Burger Court

    LOWER COURT

    United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit

    CITATION

    471 US 1 (1985)

    ARGUED

    Oct 30, 1984

    DECIDED

    Mar 27, 1985

    ADVOCATES

    W. J. Michael Cody on behalf of appellants in 83-1035

    Henry I. Klein on behalf of petitioners in 83-1070

    Facts of the case

    These are two consolidated cases against different defendants involving the same incident. During a chase, police officer Elton Hymon shot 15-year-old Edward Eugene Garner with a hollow tip bullet to prevent Garner from escaping over a fence. Garner was suspected of robbing a nearby house. Hymon admitted that before he shot he saw no evidence that Garner was armed and "figured" he was unarmed. The bullet hit Garner in the back of the head. Garner was taken to the hospital where he died a short time later.

    Garner's father sued seeking damages for violations of Garner's constitutional rights. The district court entered judgment for the defendants because Tennessee law authorized Hymon's actions. The court also felt that Garner had assumed the risk of being shot by recklessly attempting to escape. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit reversed, holding that killing a fleeing suspect is a "seizure" under the Fourth Amendment and such a seizure would only be reasonable if the suspect posed a threat to the safety of police officers or the community at large.

    Question

    Does a statute authorizing use of deadly force to prevent the escape of any fleeing suspected felon violate the Fourth Amendment?

    Conclusion

    6–3 Decision

    Majority Opinion by Byron R. White

    FOR AGAINST

    Blackmun

    White

    Powell

    Marshall

    Stevens

    Brennan

    Burger

    O’Conner

    Rehnquist

    Yes. In a 6-3 decision, Justice Byron R. White wrote for the majority affirming the court of appeals decision. The Fourth Amendment prohibits the use of deadly force unless it is necessary to prevent the escape of a fleeing felon and the officer has probable cause to believe that the suspect poses a significant threat of violence to the officer or the community. The Tennessee statute was unconstitutional as far as it allowed deadly force to prevent the escape of an unarmed fleeing felon.

    Justice Sandra Day O'Connor wrote a dissent stating that the majority went too far in invalidating long-standing common law and police practices contrary to the holding. Chief Justice Warren E. Burger and Justice William H. Rehnquist joined in the dissent.

    Contributors and Attributions


    This page titled 14.2: Tennessee v. Garner is shared under a CC BY license and was authored, remixed, and/or curated by Larry Alvarez.