WASHINGTON (AP) – The Supreme Court On Wednesday, he appeared inclined to revive a civil rights lawsuit against the Texas police officer who fatally shot a man during a traffic stop in Houston over unpaid tolls.
The justices appeared to largely agree that the New Orleans-based 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals should review Ashtian Barnesdied in his rental car in April 2016 on the shoulder of the Sam Houston Turnpike.
Barnes was shot by Officer Roberto Felix Jr., who jumped onto the edge of the driver’s door of Barnes’ car as it began to pull away from the stop. Felix fired twice in two seconds because he “reasonably feared for his life,” his lawyers wrote in their brief to the Supreme Court.
Lower courts had dismissed the excessive force lawsuit filed against Felix by Barnes’ mother, Janice Hughes. The question before the justices is whether those lower courts used the correct standard, evaluating Felix’s actions only at the “time of the threat” that led him to shoot Barnes.
Lawyers for Hughes and the Justice Department said courts should use a broader perspective, the “totality of the circumstances,” to evaluate the case against Felix.
Taking all the circumstances into account, the courts would conclude that Felix acted unreasonably by jumping into the side of Barnes’ car, Nathaniel Zelinsky, Hughes’ attorney, told the court.
The justices appeared headed toward a narrow ruling that might simply say that “the two-second rule is not the law,” Justice Neil Gorsuch said.
The Supreme Court’s decision could help clarify the standards that judges apply nationwide, but it may not ultimately help Hughes. Even if Felix is ultimately found to have violated Barnes’ rights, the officer would likely be shielded from financial liability by a separate high court standard known as qualified immunity.
Justice Brett Kavanaugh asked several questions in which he seemed concerned that a Hughes victory could make life more dangerous for police officers during traffic stops, when they might have to make decisions in seconds.
“The officer doesn’t have the time we spent here today to make the decision,” Kavanaugh said.
Barnes was driving to pick up his girlfriend’s daughter from daycare when he was stopped by Felix, who received a radio message that Barnes’ car’s license plate was associated with unpaid tolls. Barnes’ girlfriend had rented the car and Barnes was unaware of the unpaid tolls, according to court records.
Siding with the officer, 5th Circuit Judge Patrick Higginbotham regretted that “a routine traffic stop once again resulted in the death of an unarmed black man.”
A decision is expected in early summer.
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This story has been corrected to reflect that the last name of Janice Hughes’ attorney is Zelinsky, not Zelensky.
