A Court Case Study on Graham v. Connor

In this case, Graham, who is a petitioner, had filed a case against the law enforcers after claiming that his rights had been violated (Mark, 2014). Graham a diabetic man had requested his friend Berry to accompany him to a retail store to buy orange juice following after experiencing insulin reaction. When the two entered the store, they found a long queue and Graham became impatient. He changed his mind and hurried out of the store and told Berry to rush him to one of his friend's house.

The respondent in this case, Officer Connor, became suspicious about Graham behaviors inside the store and decided to follow them and stopped them few distance away to make an investigation (Mark, 2014). He told the two to wait for some few minutes so that he can confirm what had transpired inside the store. Other backup officers arrived at the scene and they quickly handcuffed the Graham. They ignored petitioner attempts to explain his medical condition. During the ensuing scuffle, Graham sustained serious body injuries. Conner later confirmed that Graham was innocent and nothing had occurred at the store earlier.

The Supreme Court rejects all the claims of excessive force on the basis of being governed by a single standard. The court must specify the exact constitutional right which was alleged to have been infringed. The judge also must define justifiable grounds where application excessive force can be applied. The judge must also make final decisions in reference to constitutional standards that apply to fundamental rights and freedoms.

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The claim that the low enforcers had applied excessive force against an innocent citizen is violation of the fourth amendment which protects citizens' rights from being infringed. The fourth amendment protects citizens from unnecessary seizures (United States Court of the Ninth Circuit, 2017). The decision of the court should be made in reference to the fourth amendment to ascertain as to whether the conduct of the officers amounts to violation of constitutional rights. Reference to fourth amendment would challenge justifiable grounds in which the officers are supposed to confront a person and their underlying intent.

The justifiable grounds in which the law enforcers can apply specific force can be judged based on the respondent perspective, an officer who was at the scene. This calculus must support the fact that in some situations, the law enforcers are compelled to make quick decisions by applying force in some particular situations (Wiley, 2011). This case relates to Johnson V. Click justifies the use of successive force and provides procedures for an inquiry (FindLaw, 2017).

In this case, the conduct of the law enforcers that is unreasonable under certain circumstances is rejected. It is rejected on the basis that there are subjective motivations which influence officers' decisions to use excessive force provided that it does not infringe the Eight Amendment. It is not necessary to conduct an inquiry of the conduct of officers on Fourth amendment violations simply because it is not a reversible error. The Eight Amendment is against any forms of cruel punishments and it suggests inquiry in the case where the amendment has been violated (LawLibrary, n.d). The Fourth Amendment does not support this forms of inquiry. Furthermore, Eight Amendment is less protective and it is only applicable after the state has conformed to all constitutional standards which are applied in criminal prosecutions (Samaha, 2014).

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