Armed With a Baseball Bat, But Not an Imminent Threat: Tenth Circuit Denies Qualified Immunity in Fatal Police Shooting
Vision Bank v. Avery, No. 25-6140 (10th Cir. Oct. 13, 2026) TL;DR The Tenth Circuit affirmed the denial of qualified immunity to an Oklahoma police officer who fatally shot a man holding an aluminum baseball bat during a civil standby. Although the man was intoxicated, verbally confrontational, armed with a potentially deadly weapon, and failed to comply with repeated commands to put the bat down, the court concluded that a reasonable jury could find that he did not pose an i
10 min read
Three Houses Away: FBI Raids the Wrong Home, and the Eleventh Circuit Reverses Qualified Immunity
Martin v. United States, No. 23-10062 (11th Cir. Oct. 7, 2026) TL;DR An FBI SWAT team conducting an early-morning operation against a suspected gang member mistakenly raided an innocent family's home, three houses away from the intended target and on an entirely different street. Agents forced entry, detonated a flashbang grenade, and handcuffed an occupant before realizing they had entered the wrong residence. The SWAT team leader blamed his personal GPS device for directing
11 min read
When Pretext Matters: Seventh Circuit Suppresses 15 Kilograms of Cocaine After Sham Commercial-Vehicle Inspection
United States v. Martinez, No. 24-1890 (7th Cir. July 7, 2026) TL;DR An Illinois State Police K-9 trooper received information from another law-enforcement agency that a specific semitruck was transporting a large quantity of narcotics. The trooper was not on routine patrol. He called another K-9 trooper, and the two waited along the interstate for at least 30 minutes for the truck to arrive. When it appeared, the trooper stopped it—not based on a traffic violation or reasona
9 min read