Page:Tenorio v Pitzer 10th Circuit.pdf/7

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Civ. No. 12-01295 MCA/KBM consolidated with Civ. No. 13-00574 MCA/KBM (D.N.M. May 28, 2014). It said that a jury could find that the second factor weighed against probable cause because it could find that Tenorio "was holding a small kitchen knife loosely by his thigh and that he made no threatening gestures toward anyone." Id. On the third factor, the court said that a jury could find that it weighed against probable cause because the jury could find that Tenorio, although walking toward Pitzer, was shot “before he was within striking distance of [Pitzer]." Id. at 8. And it said that a jury could also find that the fourth factor weighed against probable cause because the jury could reasonably find that the information provided to Pitzer "indicated that the only person that [Tenorio] was known to have threatened that night was himself, and that as [Tenorio] walked into the living room he did not raise the knife from his side or make threatening gestures or comments toward anyone." Id.

II.DISCUSSION

A.Qualified Immunity

“The doctrine of qualified immunity protects government officials from liability for civil damages insofar as their conduct does not violate clearly established statutory or constitutional rights of which a reasonable person would have known." Pearson v. Callahan, 555 U.S. 223, 231 (2009) (internal quotation marks omitted). In the Fourth Amendment context, "[t]his inquiry turns on the objective legal reasonableness of the action, assessed in light of the legal rules that were clearly established at the time it was taken." Id. at 822 (internal quotation marks omitted). "Ordinarily, in order for the law to

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