Chip Somodevilla
The U.S. Supreme Court has added a case to its docket related to the 2016 shooting death of Ashtian Barnes by a Harris County Constable.
The appeal to the nation’s highest court comes after the U.S. Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in January 2024 that the officer’s deadly force was objectively reasonable. However, the Fifth Circuit’s ruling was made under a precedent known as the “moment of threat doctrine.” Under this precedent, the court only considers the “act that led the officer to discharge his weapon” and does not consider “any of the officers’ actions leading up to the shooting,” according to court documents.
The grounds for the appeal regard that the moment of threat doctrine conflicts with several other U.S. circuit courts. According to the court filings, four circuit courts currently follow the moment of threat doctrine while eight other circuit courts currently reject this doctrine believing that all events leading up to an officer’s actions are relevant.
On April 28, 2016, Barnes was driving a rental car on the Houston Tollway when Harris County Precinct 5 Constable Roberto Felix, Jr. pulled the vehicle over, according to court documents. The traffic stop was originally initiated due to outstanding toll violations connected to the rental car. The toll violations were allegedly not Barnes’ fault.
Upon approaching the vehicle, Felix allegedly smelled marijuana coming from the car, according to initial coverage from the Houston Chronicle. Felix allegedly asked Barnes for his driver’s license and insurance and Barnes said they might be in the trunk. Barnes then allegedly opened the trunk from inside the vehicle and Felix asked him to get out.
Court documents cite that police dashcam video of the incident shows Barnes’s vehicle slowly began to move forward. In response, Felix drew his weapon and told Barnes to stop moving. Felix then jumped on the running board of the vehicle as it moved forward. Several shots were fired, and the vehicle stopped moving. Court documents said this entire series of events happened within seconds. Barnes was pronounced dead on the scene.
Following Barnes’s death, his mother, Janice Hughes Barnes, filed a lawsuit against Felix and Harris County. The main argument of the lawsuit is that Felix violated Barnes’s Fourth Amendment right which protected him from unreasonable search and seizure.
The appeal claims that if the Fifth Circuit was allowed to consider the totality of the circumstances, it could be argued that Felix’s own action of jumping on the vehicle placed himself in danger. However, since the Fifth Circuit court follows the moment of threat doctrine it can only conclude that Felix was in danger at the moment when deadly force was used.
In the Fifth Circuit’s opinion, Judge Patrick Higginbotham specifically asked the Supreme Court to settle the conflicting precedents.
“The reality of the role the officers played in bringing about the conditions said to necessitate deadly force. … Requires that we be sensitive to all of the circumstances bearing on an officer’s use of force.” Higginbotham wrote in the opinion. “It is time for this court [the Fifth Circuit court] to revisit this doctrine, failing that, for the Supreme Court to resolve the circuit divide over the application of a doctrine deployed daily across this country.”
The Harris County Attorney’s Office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The Supreme Court does not have a specific timeline for when certain cases will be heard or decided on.
