A jury will decide whether three Colorado corrections employees violated William S. Pettigrew’s constitutional rights by failing to protect him before another prisoner stabbed him repeatedly at Sterling Correctional Facility in 2021. In a Sept. 23 order, U.S. Magistrate Judge Maritza Dominguez Braswell found that evidence could support Pettigrew’s claim that the employees knew he faced a specific danger and did not take reasonable steps to address it. The ruling allows the case, Pettigrew v. Dorcey et al., to proceed to trial; it does not determine whether the employees are liable. Pettigrew was stabbed on June 30, 2021, during “table time,” an activity intended to provide incarcerated people with required time outside their cells. Participants were restrained at a table before staff left. Adam Ybarra, who had a homemade handcuff key, freed himself, obtained a rudimentary blade and stabbed Pettigrew. The attack caused multiple puncture wounds and collapsed Pettigrew’s left lung. He was later transferred to an out-of-state prison. Pettigrew alleges that he warned Capt. Joshua Dorcey, Lt. Roland Jackson and case manager Matthew Long that he feared for his safety and wanted to move. He says he specifically asked Dorcey to move him “away from that dude,” referring to Ybarra. The case centers in part on Pettigrew’s placement in the prison system’s highest-supervision unit, known as the MCC. Pettigrew had been marked for a possible attack after he killed another prisoner in 2016, an incident that heightened tensions between Black and white prisoner populations, according to the court record. Corrections officials told him that gang leaders had put a “green light” on him, meaning they would not prevent an assault. Braswell noted evidence that staff knew about the threat to Pettigrew, Ybarra’s history of stabbings and the risks of table time. Pettigrew had also identified Ybarra as a concern. The judge wrote that these circumstances could distinguish the alleged danger from the general risks of placing violent prisoners together. The Colorado Attorney General’s Office argued that the employees should not be held responsible for failing to provide complete protection from another dangerous prisoner. It characterized reports about Ybarra as vague and said Pettigrew’s placement in the MCC reflected the need to house him with other assaultive inmates. Pettigrew’s lawyers countered that staff knew about both the threats against him and Ybarra’s history of escaping restraints and attacking people. Braswell said a jury could ultimately side with the employees, but could also conclude that their response to Pettigrew’s warnings was unreasonable. The lawsuit alleges a violation of Pettigrew’s Eighth Amendment protection from cruel and unusual punishment.