Appellate court upholds verdict in officer’s case

Man carrying a pellet rifle killed by LR police in 2016

An 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals panel in St. Louis has affirmed a federal court jury’s finding that a Little Rock police officer acted properly when he shot and killed a man armed with a pellet rifle during a confrontation with police in October 2016.

On Oct. 25, 2016, Little Rock patrol officer Dennis Hutchins and another officer responded to a disturbance at 514 E. Eighth St. at 12:37 a.m., where they found two men — identified as Roy Richards, 46, and his uncle, Derrell Underwood — fighting in the front yard. As the officers approached, the two men stopped fighting and Richards walked to a dark-colored vehicle, entered it briefly and then emerged holding what appeared to be a rifle and began walking toward the front steps of the house. At that point, Hutchins fired five shots at Richards from 25 yards away with a department-issued Bushmaster .223-caliber rifle, hitting him twice and killing him instantly. The weapon Richards was carrying that night turned out to be an air rifle.

On Aug. 30, 2017, Richards’ sister, Vanessa Cole, filed a lawsuit accusing Hutchins of using excessive force, of misleading investigators about the circumstances of the killing and violating numerous department regulations in his handling of the encounter. The lawsuit originally named Hutchins, former Police Chief Kenton Buckner and the city of Little Rock as defendants, but in February 2019, U.S. District Judge Leon Holmes, who was originally assigned the case, tossed out the claims against Buckner and the city, leaving Hutchins as the sole defendant. The case was reassigned to Chief U.S. District Judge D. Price Marshall Jr. following Holmes’ retirement in 2020.

Following an eight-day trial in August of last year, a jury of six women and two men concluded that Hutchins did not use excessive force during the confrontation. Jurors also ruled on six disputed facts that were contested during the trial:

■ Richards was holding his long gun with the barrel pointing toward Underwood’s house when he was shot.

■ Underwood was inside his home when Hutchins fired his rifle.

■ Underwood had been inside his home less than three seconds when Hutchins fired.

■ Richards was facing Underwood’s home when Hutchins fired.

■ Richards was in the yard approaching Underwood’s home when Hutchins fired.

■ It was not feasible for Hutchins to warn Richards before opening fire.

At the trial, Hutchins said he saw Richards chasing Underwood up the steps of Underwood’s apartment and that he shot him out of fear that Richards was about to shoot Underwood. However, witnesses who testified had conflicting reports, with all but one saying the gun Richards was holding was pointed at the ground while one witness testified that Richards was holding the weapon “like a soldier, pointing up at 10 o’clock,” when he was shot.

Cole appealed the verdict to the 8th Circuit and on Monday a three-judge panel consisting of Circuit Court Judges Duane Benton, Ralph Erickson and Jonathan Kobes affirmed the verdict in a brief, one-page per curiam — or unanimous — decision.

“We find no abuse of discretion in the special verdict questions the district court posed to the jury,” the order read, “or in the district court’s decision not to direct the jury to deliberate further or order a new trial based on the jury’s answers to the special verdict questions, as the answers could be reconciled.”

The ruling also said that because there was sufficient evidence to support the jury’s verdict, Marshall’s denial of Cole’s motion for judgment as a matter of law was proper.

Under federal rules of civil procedure, a motion asking the court to enter judgment as a matter of law is made before a case is submitted to the jury and argues that no reasonable jury could find for the opposing party. In federal court, this motion may be renewed after an adverse jury finding.