Clopton v. Kilgore

On March 27, 2015, Rankin County Sheriff's Deputy Tyler Kilgore fatally shot Mario Clopton, an African American man, during a traffic stop in Mississippi. Kilgore claimed Clopton grabbed for his gun, while eyewitnesses disputed the account. Janie Clopton, as the representative of Mario Clopton's estate, filed a civil rights lawsuit against Kilgore and Rankin County, alleging excessive force, wrongful death, and violations of the Fourth and Fourteenth Amendments. The trial in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Mississippi concluded on September 4, 2018, with the jury returning a verdict in favor of the defendants, finding that Kilgore did not use constitutionally excessive force.

A federal jury rendered a verdict in favor of defendants Tyler Kilgore and Rankin County, rejecting all civil rights and wrongful death claims.

Whether Deputy Kilgore's use of deadly force was objectively reasonable under the circumstances, and whether he was entitled to qualified immunity.

The case intensified scrutiny over police shootings in Mississippi and the broader debate over qualified immunity, highlighting divisions in community trust toward law enforcement accounts of officer-involved fatalities.