A federal appeals court Monday upheld a verdict in favor of two Brevard County sheriff’s deputies accused of using unreasonable force in the shooting death of a man in 2013.
A three-judge panel of the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals rejected arguments by the estate of Christopher Greer in the civil lawsuit. Deputies James Haman and Diomedis Canela shot Greer in his home after responding to a call about an altercation between Greer and his brother and sister-in law, according to court records.
A jury sided with the deputies on excessive-force and wrongful-death claims. At the appeals court, the estate made a series of arguments, including that questions asked during jury selection did not properly address “potential implicit or unconscious bias in favor of law enforcement,” Monday’s ruling said.
But the panel of the Atlanta-based appeals court rejected such arguments. “The court did not abuse its discretion by asking the questions that it did in the format that it did, instead of the ones the estate wanted in the format that the estate wanted,” said the ruling shared fully by Judges Kevin Newsom and Ed Carnes and partly by Judge Adalberto Jordan.