Case Explained: Anna Chernyy v. Monty Roesler

Court: United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit Filed: 2026-08-11 The eighth-circuit reversed the district court’s denial of summary judgment and remanded the case with instructions to enter summary judgment in favor of Sheriff Alan Moore and Saline County on qualified immunity grounds. The court held that neither the Sheriff nor the County violated clearly established law regarding the Eighth Amendment failure-to-protect and failure-to-train claims brought by inmate Anna Chernyy under 42 U.S.C. § 1983. The court applied the standard for qualified immunity, which protects officials unless their conduct violates a constitutional right that was “clearly established” at the time of the incident such that every reasonable official would have understood the violation. To succeed on a failure-to-protect claim, a plaintiff must show the official was deliberately indifferent to a substantial risk of serious harm. The court found that while sexual assault is illegal, it was not clearly established that Sheriff Moore’s specific actions or inactions constituted a constitutional violation under the Eighth Amendment. Unlike precedent cases where officials ignored repeated, specific threats or had knowledge of an officer’s history of predatory behavior, Chernyy had not reported concerns about Officer Roesler to Moore prior to the assault, and Moore took immediate action upon receiving the report. Furthermore, regarding the failure-to-train claim, the court determined that a reasonable supervisor would not have known that failing to retrain an officer on PREA standards was likely to result in sexual assault without notice of a pattern of unconstitutional acts by subordinates. The court rejected Chernyy’s argument that isolated incidents involving other officers or Roesler constituted such a pattern. Because no clearly established right was violated by Moore, the County could not be held liable under *Monell* for maintaining an unconstitutional policy or custom, as municipal liability requires a showing of deliberate indifference to constitutional rights that were clearly established. The practical consequence is that the appeal regarding the sufficiency of evidence is dismissed due to lack of jurisdiction over factual disputes, but the legal issue of qualified immunity is resolved in favor of the defendants. The case is remanded to the district court for the entry of summary judgment in favor of Sheriff Moore and Saline County, effectively ending their liability in this civil suit. Do It For The Case Law is a news reporting service. Nothing in this episode constitutes legal advice.