Whether a trial court can disregard the Whitley-factors in an Eighth-Amendment-excessive-force case

QUESTIONS PRESENTED The questions presented are: 1. Whether atrial court can disregard the five factors set forth in Whitley v. Albers, 475 U.S. 312 (1986), in an Eighth Amendment excessive force case in favor of deferring solely to the correctional officers’ perception of the incident and insist upon direct evidence that the officers had the specific intent of malice and sadism. 2. Whether a trial court can consider a video of a beating of an inmate in a prison, which the trial court expressly acknowledges has limitations, in order to reject the inmate’s account of what happened to him for purposes of summary judgment in an Eighth Amendment excessive force case when, at the time the footage was taken, he was covered in a “scrum” of correctional officers and another correctional officer’s body blocked parts of the camera’s view of the incident. ii PARTIES Petitioner Matthew Anderson (“Petitioner” or “Anderson”) is a natural person and a citizen of the United States and the State of Florida. On February 9, 2015, he was incarcerated at the Sussex County Violation of Probation Center (““SVOP”) in Georgetown, Delaware. Respondents Lieutenant John Bonnewell (“Bonnewell”), Sergeant Bruce Taylor (“Taylor”), and Correctional Officer Edgar Verde (“Verde”) are natural persons and citizens of the United States and the State of Delaware. On February 9, 2015, all three were working as correctional officers at the SVOP facility in Georgetown, Delaware.