8th Amendment – Self Defense

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7^th Circuit Court of Appeals

Case Name: United States of America v. Joshua A. Waldman

Case No.: 15-1756

Officials: POSNER, WILLIAMS, and HAMILTON, Circuit Judges.

Focus: 8^th Amendment – Self Defense

Imminent threat of death or seriously bodily harm not required to justifiably use force in self defense. However, appellant had legal alternative to force via compliance.

Inmate Joshua Waldman was convicted of forcibly assaulting a correctional officer after head‐ butting him during an argument about a pat‐down search. He advanced a self‐defense argument at trial, but was unsuccessful. On appeal, he argues that the district court erred in holding that there needed to be an imminent threat of death or serious bodily harm before he could justifiably use force in self defense. We agree. Requiring that an inmate fear serious bodily harm or death before using force to protect himself is inconsistent with both the Eighth Amendment and common law principles justifying the use of self‐defense. But we find no clear error in the district court’s finding that Waldman had a legal alternative to force in complying with the pat‐down. So we affirm Waldman’s conviction because he failed to prove at least one of the required components of his defense.

Affirmed

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Attorney Derek A. Hawkins is the managing partner at Hawkins Law Offices LLC, where he heads up the firm’s startup law practice. He specializes in business formation, corporate governance, intellectual property protection, private equity and venture capital funding and mergers & acquisitions. Check out the website at www.hawkins-lawoffices.com or contact them at 262-737-8825.