In a nut-shell the Mendez couple were living in a shack in a friend's back yard when the LEOs, suspecting that an armed fugitive was in their dwelling, open fired first.
The LEOs didn't have a warrant. Fearing for their lives the husband reached for his BB gun and returned fire. Both husband and pregnant wife were injured. The husband lost a leg due to the wounds he received.
As expected the Mendez couple sued and the case went to the 9th Circus (excuse me I meant to say Circuit). The 9th Circuit held that the LEOs didn't use excessive force but had violated the "provocation rule." Now if I understand that rule correctly, a citizen who is illegally provoked by a LEO can respond with force and the the same LEOs cannot be immune from prosecution or civil penalties.
The Mendez's won a $4 million lawsuit. The County of Los Angeles is appealing the case to the SCOTUS who have agreed to hear the case.
The 9th Circuit's "provocation rule" conflicts with a previous ruling by the SCOTUS in Graham v. Connor 1989. In that case, the SCOTUS came up with the “reasonableness” rule. In that rule the SCOTUS said:
What bothers me about this, is that a private citizen using lethal force against a BG is judged by the 20/20 hindsight standard but a LEO gets a break when it comes to reasonableness.The "reasonableness" of a particular use of force must be judged from the perspective of a reasonable officer on the scene, rather than with the 20/20 vision of hindsight.
To fully grasp the importance of Mendez (and no knock warrants & excessive force) read the links below about the Graham V. Conner first. Then read about County of Los Angeles v Mendez. I'm hoping that the "provocation rule" is upheld by the SCOTUS as it will cause LEOs to think twice before shooting first and asking questions later. This is one instance in which I am in agreement with the 9th Circuit.
Graham V. Conner Links:
http://www.policemag.com/channel/patrol ... onnor.aspx
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Graham_v._Connor
http://caselaw.findlaw.com/us-supreme-c ... 0/386.html
County of Los Angeles V. Mendez Links:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/los ... f37fe46648
https://www.supremecourt.gov/qp/16-00369qp.pdf
http://www.scotusblog.com/case-files/ca ... -v-mendez/