UNPUBLISHED
UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
FOR THE FOURTH CIRCUIT
No. 09-6537
ROBERT PEOPLES,
Plaintiff - Appellant,
v.
PORTER MCKNIGHT, Corporal,
Defendant - Appellee,
and
SCDC; GEORGE HAGAN; SCDC DIRECTOR JON OZMINT; MAJOR BERNARD
WALKER; IGC KEN LONG; NFN DUBOSE, Captain; LIEUTENANT ISIAH
CANN; CORY JOHNSON, Officer; LATASHA GRANT, Officer; ERIC
WILLIAMS, Officer; DARRELL TYLER, Lieutenant; SYLVIA RAWLS,
Nurse; RAPID RESPONSE TEAM, All in their individual and
official capacities,
Defendants.
Appeal from the United States District Court for the District of
South Carolina, at Anderson. Cameron McGowan Currie, District
Judge. (8:07-cv-01203-CMC)
Submitted: March 30, 2010 Decided: April 13, 2010
Before WILKINSON, MICHAEL, and KING, Circuit Judges.
Affirmed in part, vacated in part, and remanded by unpublished
per curiam opinion.
Robert Peoples, Appellant Pro Se. Andrew Todd Darwin, Ginger
Goforth, HOLCOMBE, BOMAR, GUNN & BRADFORD, PA, Spartanburg,
South Carolina, for Appellee.
Unpublished opinions are not binding precedent in this circuit.
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PER CURIAM:
Pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1983 (2006), Robert Peoples, a
South Carolina state inmate, filed a complaint alleging that
Defendants violated his civil rights during an incident that
occurred at the Allendale Correctional Institution on April 22,
2004. Peoples alleged that Defendants used excessive force
against him when they sprayed riot gas into his cell following a
disturbance on his wing and then were deliberately indifferent
to his resulting serious medical needs.
Claims against all Defendants except Corporal Porter
McKnight, the corrections officer who actually sprayed the gas,
were dismissed prior to trial. During the course of the trial,
the district court dismissed the deliberate indifference claim.
The jury returned a verdict in favor of McKnight on the
excessive force claim. Peoples timely appealed. For the
reasons that follow, we affirm in part, vacate in part, and
remand for further proceedings.
Peoples contends that the district court erred by
dismissing his deliberate indifference claim before all the
evidence was presented at trial. A careful review of the
pleadings reveals that Peoples did not assert a deliberate
indifference claim against McKnight. Because all other
Defendants were dismissed from the action prior to trial and
Peoples does not challenge their dismissal, we conclude that the
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district court properly declined to hear evidence on the
deliberate indifference claim.
Peoples next argues that the district court failed to
properly instruct the jury on excessive force. The court based
the instruction given to the jury on Fourth Circuit precedent
established by Norman v. Taylor, 25 F.3d 1259 (4th Cir. 1994)
(en banc), and its progeny. In Norman, we held that “absent the
most extraordinary circumstances, a plaintiff cannot prevail on
an Eighth Amendment excessive force claim if his injury is de
minimis.” Id. at 1263. After Peoples filed his appeal, the
Supreme Court overruled Norman, holding that, while the extent
of an inmate’s injury is relevant in assessing an excessive
force claim, the “core judicial inquiry” in an excessive force
claim focuses on the nature of the force. Wilkins v. Gaddy, 130
S. Ct. 1175, ___, 2010 WL 596513, at *3 (2010).
Accordingly, we vacate the judgment as it pertains to
the excessive force claim against McKnight, and remand for
further proceedings in light of Wilkins v. Gaddy. The district
court’s judgment is affirmed in all other respects. Peoples’
motions for appointment of counsel and for preparation of a
transcript at Government expense are denied. We dispense with
oral argument because the facts and legal contentions are
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adequately presented in the materials before the court and
argument would not aid the decisional process.
AFFIRMED IN PART,
VACATED IN PART,
AND REMANDED
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