Whether qualified immunity bars liability for officers' use of force against an armed, combative suspect

QUESTIONS PRESENTED Petitioners Cesar Vizcarra and Jorge Brambila, City of Rialto police officers, responded to a domestic dispute call from respondent Monica Ortiz. As captured on Vizcarra’s body camera video, when the officers entered the apartment Christian Pena was highly agitated and confrontational, challenging the officers to “come on” and clenching his fists. As Pena remained combative and ignored commands to get down on the ground, Vizcarra fired his Taser, striking Pena, who fell to the floor, but continued to thrash about. A second and third Taser activation failed to disable Pena, who within a fraction of a second, grabbed a knife that had fallen from his pocket, and scooted towards Vizcarra, closing to within five feet, when Vizcarra shot him with his pistol. Pena initially fell back away from Vizcarra, only to roll quickly back towards the officer, who fired a second, ultimately fatal shot. The Ninth Circuit, Judge Fernandez dissenting, dismissed the officers’ appeal of the denial of summary judgment on qualified immunity for lack of jurisdiction under Johnson v. Jones, 515 U.S. 304 (1995). The questions presented by this petition are: 1. Does Johnson v. Jones, 515 U.S. 304 (1995) foreclose interlocutory appeal of an order denying summary judgment on qualified immunity, where the underlying evidentiary fact is undisputed, but where different inferences may be drawn from li QUESTIONS PRESENTED—Continued the particular fact, or do such disputes concern evaluation of the materiality of a particular fact, which, under Anderson v. Liberty Lobby, Inc., 477 U.S. 242 (1986) is a legal issue, and therefore subject to interlocutory appeal under Mitchell v. Forsyth, 472 U.S. 511 (1985)? 2. Did the Ninth Circuit improperly depart from this Court’s decision in Kisela v. Hughes, __ US. __, 188 S.Ct. 1148 (2018) (per curiam) and numerous other cases by denying qualified immunity notwithstanding the absence of clearly established law imposing liability under circumstances closely analogous to those confronting the officers? 3. Did the Ninth Circuit improperly depart from this Court’s decisions in Graham v. Connor, 490 U.S. 386 (1989) and Plumhoff v. Rickard, 572 U.S. 765 (2014) in denying qualified immunity based upon the absence of a constitutional violation given that the undisputed facts established that Petitioners acted reasonably in responding to the threat of an armed suspect?