Court: United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit

Filed: 2026-06-29

The Fourth Circuit dismissed the appeal in part for lack of jurisdiction and affirmed the district court’s denial of qualified immunity in part. The court held that while it has jurisdiction under the collateral order doctrine to review purely legal questions regarding a magistrate judge’s denial of qualified immunity, it lacks authority to reweigh record evidence or resolve factual disputes. Because Officer Devine’s arguments challenging the objective reasonableness of his use of lethal force relied on a view of the facts contrary to the magistrate judge’s findings, the court dismissed those portions of the appeal. The court affirmed the remainder of the ruling, concluding that no reversible error existed regarding the purely legal questions presented, specifically that the officer’s conduct did not violate clearly established statutory or constitutional rights under 42 U.S.C. § 1983. Consequently, the case proceeds to trial on the Fourth Amendment seizure claim.

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