In Estate of Richard Ward, through its personal representative Kristy Ward Stamp, Plaintiffs – Appellees v. David Lucero, Pueblo County Sheriff, Defendant-Appellants, the attorneys at Killmer Lane, LLP and Newman McNulty were successful in defeating a challenge brought by the Pueblo County Sheriff’s office to the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals.
In this case, the Tenth Circuit considered whether Pueblo County sheriff’s deputies were entitled to qualified immunity after Deputy Charles McWhorter fatally shot Richard Ward during an encounter outside a Pueblo middle school and officers subsequently detained Ward’s mother, Kristy Ward Stamp, for several hours and seized her property. The district court had denied qualified immunity, finding that a reasonable jury could conclude Ward did not resist officers, attempt to flee, reach for the deputy’s firearm, or otherwise pose an immediate threat when deadly force was used. The court also found that Ward Stamp was detained without probable cause and that her property was unlawfully seized.
On appeal, the deputies argued that the district court applied the wrong legal standard and that the record contradicted the factual findings supporting the denial of qualified immunity. The Tenth Circuit rejected those arguments, holding that the district court correctly applied the qualified-immunity framework and that the body-camera footage and other evidence did not “blatantly contradict” the facts viewed in the plaintiffs’ favor. Because most of the deputies’ appellate arguments depended on disputing the district court’s factual determinations rather than presenting purely legal questions, the court lacked jurisdiction to review them in an interlocutory appeal.
The Tenth Circuit affirmed the denial of qualified immunity to the extent the appeal raised legal issues and dismissed the remainder of the appeal for lack of appellate jurisdiction, allowing the plaintiffs’ claims to proceed toward trial. Read the opinion.