U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit

United States v. Bourget

August 21, 2026

Summary

The court affirmed Bourget's conviction for willfully depriving a handcuffed inmate of his Eighth Amendment rights through excessive force. Viewing the evidence in the light most favorable to the verdict, the court held that a rational jury could infer malicious and sadistic intent and the specific bad-purpose intent required by the criminal statute. The court also held that Bourget waived his challenges to the jury instructions, the challenged testimony, and cumulative error, and that the district court acted within its discretion in excluding the Sion video.