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Shooting case will test limits of qualified immunity BY CORY VAILLANCOURT POLITICS E DITOR n 2020, a trial court accepted the qualified immunity defense of Macon County Sheriff ’s Office Deputy Anthony Momphard for the 2018 killing of Scott Knibbs. “What happens in these cases is that the plaintiff almost always loses because of qualified immunity,” said Waynesville attorney Mark Melrose. “We knew that, but the whole idea was, can we put together a case where we have enough evidence to show that Momphard is not entitled to qualified immunity because this was so far out of bounds?” Melrose and son Adam have done just that. Last week, an appellate court rejected parts of the 2020 judgement, meaning Momphard will likely be back in federal court, testing the bounds of qualified immunity for police officers who use excessive force.
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he killing occurred as the result of a dispute between neighbors, according to details in multiple court documents as well as statements provided by Melrose. Knibbs lived on Pheasant Drive, a onelane, private dead-end road in rural Macon County, with only one house above him, a rental. Knibbs had been upset that the rental appeared to be a bit of a “party house”
Smoky Mountain News
April 13-19, 2022
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and that the tenants’ dog had disturbed him. He was also upset that people sometimes drove too fast in the roadway, both up and down. Late in the evening of April 29, 2018, a partygoer mistakenly pulled into Knibbs’ driveway. Knibbs told them to leave, and kicked the bumper of the vehicle after accusing the occupants of the vehicle and the tenants Scott Knibbs was killed in in the house his home early on the morn- of drug activing of April 30, 2018. ity. Facebook photo Knibbs then placed several boards studded with nails into the roadway. As another partygoer left the residence later that night, they encountered the ersatz speedbumps on their way down, stopped their car, and called police. Momphard, a military veteran and rookie deputy, was dispatched to the scene and
likewise encountered the boards on his way up. He stopped, without deploying his emergency lights, and knocked on Knibbs’s door. Although there was evidence that there were people inside — Knibbs, his wife, his son, his daughter and his grandson — Momphard received no response, so he continued his investigation and spoke to partygoers. On his way back down, he again tried knocking on Knibbs’ door while identifying himself verbally as a sheriff ’s deputy. “Scott’s inside the bedroom, and the evidence is that he and his wife Missy heard that, and Scott said, ‘Anybody could say they’re sheriff ’s department,’ which were the last words that he ever spoke,” Melrose said. Toxicology reports would later show that Knibbs, who had no criminal record and graduated from basic law enforcement training at Southwestern Community College in the 1990s, had a blood alcohol level almost three times the legal limit for driving a car. As Knibbs made his way from his bedroom toward the door with a shotgun, he racked a round into the chamber. Standing near the porch by an adjacent set of windows, Momphard was looking for cover. “Momphard hears that, gets his gun out and yells, ‘put it down, put it down’ and then moves in front of the windows,” Melrose said. “He turns his light on and says he sees Scott
standing there with a gun and so he shoots and kills [Knibbs] through the window.” District Attorney Ashley Welch recused herself from the case, as Macon County Sheriff Robbie Holland is a political supporter of hers and would likely be named if a civil suit were to be filed. Henderson County District Attorney Greg Newman, who was later removed from his post due to misconduct unrelated to the Knibbs case, declined to bring criminal charges against Momphard, who was cleared by MCSO internal affairs and left the Macon County Sheriff ’s Office on good terms not long after the incident. Missy Knibbs retained Mark and his son Adam, who a year after the killing filed suit against Momphard and Holland in his official capacity as Sheriff, as well as MCSO’s liability insurance carrier and surety bond providers. Claims against Momphard included violation of Knibbs’ Second, Fourth and Fourteenth Amendment rights, wrongful death and violations of the North Carolina Constitution. Holland was named for wrongful death and violations of the N.C. Constitution. Forensic evidence presented at trial contradicted Momphard’s contention that Knibbs’ shotgun had been pointed at him. Stippling and wounds on Knibbs’ body suggested that Knibbs was
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