Defense rests case in trial of Pierce County Sheriff Ed Troyer

Pierce County Sheriff Ed Troyer wrapped up his testimony in his trial on false reporting charges Monday and faced only a brief cross-examination from a state prosecutor.

The defense rested its case, and prosecutors said they won’t call any rebuttal witnesses, clearing the way for closing arguments as early as Tuesday.

As he did when called to the stand last week, Troyer, who is white, denied retracting claims that Sedrick Altheimer, a Black newspaper carrier, had threatened to kill him during a confrontation the morning of Jan. 27, 2021.

Troyer’s defense team continued its strategy of portraying Altheimer, who testified that he never threatened Troyer, was to blame for the police response that night.

They showed jurors body camera footage of Altheimer ranting when police arrived, stating he’d just been doing his normal paper route when Troyer followed him in his personal SUV.

“If nothing had happened, if Mr. Altheimer had not threatened you, had not been angry and upset and confronted you, it would have been a nonevent, wouldn’t it?” defense attorney Anne Bremner asked.

“Correct,” Troyer responded.

Assistant Attorney General Melanie Tratnik briefly cross-examined Troyer on Monday afternoon, starting by challenging his statement that “none of us would be here” if the Attorney General’s Office had made him a “part of the investigation instead of the target.”

“Prior to charges ever being filed, didn’t the Attorney General’s Office contact you numerous times and offer you the chance to give a statement?” Tratnik asked.

“Twice, yes they did,” Troyer said, acknowledging he declined to give a statement on the advice of his attorney.

Tratnik questioned Troyer about his accounts of the incident, including why he had referred to Altheimer as a possible homeless person even days later when he knew that wasn’t true.

Tratnik also probed other potential inconsistencies in Troyer’s testimony about what happened that night, but the short cross-examination appeared to do little to rattle the sheriff, who reiterated that he’d made no false report.

The entire morning in the trial on Monday was consumed with legal arguments over whether prosecutors could cross-examine Troyer on any previous complaints made against him about harassment or other alleged violations.

Over defense objections, Judge Jeffrey Jahns allowed prosecutors to cross- examine Troyer about a 2015 complaint about a Facebook message Troyer sent to a man who had criticized the Pierce County Sheriff’s Office.

Troyer had testified Thursday in the trial he had not even “a single complaint” for racial profiling, discrimination, harassment or assault. “Never even had one filed,” he said.

But prosecutors pointed to a 2015 complaint in which a man said Troyer had threatened in a Facebook message to report him to law enforcement and get him in trouble with his employers.

The man had sent a Facebook message message to Troyer, then the department’s media spokesperson, saying that the agency “got off cheap” with a $750,000 settlement of a lawsuit over the death of Ronald Hillstrom, a mentally ill man who died after being beaten by sheriff’s deputies. “Your men should be going to jail,” wrote the man, a cousin of Hillstrom.

Troyer responded that he was sending the man’s message to Seattle and King County police and to “his friends” at Seattle’s baseball and football stadiums, where the man worked as security. That led the man to say he was “in fear of losing his job” or being retaliated against by law enforcement.

No action was taken over the allegation against Troyer, who testified Monday that he’d been polite during the exchange and had merely intended to alert police about someone who appeared to have ill feelings toward them.

The trial resumes Tuesday morning, with defense lawyers expected to make another motion to dismiss the case without sending it to the jury. Jahns has rejected their previous motions.