How will Troyer’s acquittal of criminal charges affect the civil lawsuit against him?
Pierce County Sheriff Ed Troyer soon will be back in court in connection with his 2021 report that a newspaper carrier threatened to kill him and the massive police response that ensued.
Experts say his acquittal on criminal charges earlier this month will have little, if any, bearing on the unresolved civil lawsuit pending against him and the county in U.S. District Court.
Months before the state Attorney General’s Office charged Troyer with misdemeanor counts of false reporting and making a false or misleading statement to a public servant, the newspaper carrier filed a $5 million tort claim with Pierce County, a precursor to his civil rights lawsuit later filed in King County Superior Court.
Sedrick Altheimer, a 26-year-old Black man, alleged the sheriff, who is white, acted with “racial animus” and “reckless disregard” for his civil rights when Troyer followed Altheimer on his delivery route and repeatedly told dispatchers that he threatened to kill him, sending more than 40 officers rushing toward the scene. The lawsuit asserted Altheimer’s detainment by Tacoma police amounted to false arrest and the county failed “to have an appropriate policy that could have prevented the violation” of his rights.
About a dozen officers and deputies arrived in Troyer’s northwest Tacoma neighborhood — a few with guns drawn — but determined the incident wasn’t as described, according to court testimony. The lead investigator testified earlier this month that Troyer said twice he wasn’t threatened during an interview. Altheimer also testified he didn’t threaten Troyer in any way.
Troyer said on the stand that he followed the newspaper carrier due to his suspicious driving, then Altheimer screamed at him, flailed his arms and threatened him by saying, “I’ll take you out.” The sheriff also testified Tacoma police misunderstood him when he responded to questions about the threat with, “I’m not worried about it.”
Proceedings in Altheimer’s lawsuit, which was transferred to federal court in Seattle, were paused pending the outcome of Troyer’s criminal trial. Attorneys for the sheriff, who is paying his own court costs, and Pierce County did not respond to interview requests for this story.
In the sheriff’s criminal case, six jurors, all men and two people of color, delivered two not-guilty verdicts in favor of Troyer on Dec. 14 following several days of testimony.
How might the criminal case and verdict impact Altheimer’s civil case?
“Not much,” attorney and University of Washington School of Law instructor Jeff Feldman told The News Tribune.
“The nature of the criminal verdict is not actually a finding of innocence,” Feldman added.
Prosecutors are tasked with proving criminal charges beyond a reasonable doubt, so a jury’s not-guilty vote can only be interpreted as a failure to surpass that threshold rather than a determination of innocence, according to Feldman.
“Lots of defense attorneys will hammer that reasonable doubt issue,” Feldman said. “We set the burden of proof high” in criminal cases to avoid wrongful convictions, though they still occur.
As a defense attorney himself, Feldman said a common metaphor he uses to explain reasonable doubt to jurors is a risky surgery. If a doctor says the odds of any benefit from an operation are 50% and there’s also a chance of death, a reasonable person would hesitate to agree to it.
“Jurors take this stuff very seriously,” Feldman said. “That doubt alone is sufficient.”
The jury for Troyer’s trial, as well as four alternates, declined to speak with reporters about their findings following the verdict.
“He was acquitted,” Feldman said. “He won it as well as he could win it.”
Civil cases have a much lower burden of proof, called the preponderance of evidence standard, which asks a jury to decide whether a plaintiff has proven their legal claims are more likely than not.
Feldman illustrated the concept with an imaginary scale tipping ever so slightly in favor of one party. A 51% majority is another way of thinking about a preponderance, he said.
Feldman said he could envision a scenario where Altheimer might have been able to use a conviction of Troyer to strengthen his civil claim that the sheriff falsely accused him, but the sheriff’s acquittal doesn’t gut Altheimer’s civil case.
Seattle-based attorney and former King County prosecutor Tomas Gahan concurred with Feldman. He said in an email that a conviction of Troyer may have helped establish Altheimer’s civil case, “but the opposite is not true.”
When a criminal and civil case arise out of the same event, Feldman said, civil attorneys can try to time a lawsuit strategically.
In some circumstances, it could be more favorable for a plaintiff to reach a civil settlement before a criminal trial begins, Feldman said. Other times, it might be preferable to file suit after a criminal case concludes so a plaintiff’s credibility can’t be questioned by a jury.
“A smart lawyer would think about that,” said Feldman, who noted prosecutors can be frustrated by the impact of simultaneous lawsuits.
Throughout Troyer’s trial, his defense attorneys repeatedly referenced Altheimer’s lawsuit, which preceded criminal charges, and questioned him about potential financial bias.
“I wanted a fair trial. I want fair justice,” Altheimer told the jury in Troyer’s trial about filing his lawsuit. “I feel like he should be held accountable for wasting resources and lying.”
One of Altheimer’s attorneys, Vonda Sargent, told The News Tribune she remained confident in her client’s case shortly after hearing the verdict in the sheriff’s trial.
“It’s disappointing, but it doesn’t change that his conduct had a profound impact on my client,” said Sargent.
Sargent said she’ll be allowed to use evidence that the prosecutors weren’t allowed to present in Troyer’s trial. She declined to provide specifics.
A court order prior to testimony in Troyer’s criminal trial prohibited prosecutors from bringing in evidence regarding racial prejudice. It also prohibited testimony about the judge’s ruling this summer that the sheriff continued to contact Altheimer on his delivery route in violation of his jail release conditions. Separately, another judge granted Altheimer an anti-harassment protection order against Troyer.
The Attorney General’s Office also couldn’t cite a County Council-commissioned probe of the incident that determined Troyer violated multiple department policies during the confrontation with Altheimer, nor refer to Altheimer as a victim.
“The victim there is the state. In this case, it’s Sedrick who is the victim,” Sargent said while differentiating criminal and civil liability.
Sargent said she didn’t follow the entirety of Troyer’s trial but watched her client testify and observed attempted “dog whistles” by defense attorneys, who painted Altheimer as angry and threatening.
“He’s upset,” Sargent said of Altheimer’s reaction to Troyer’s acquittal. “He wasn’t the aggressor in this case.”
This story was originally published December 26, 2022 at 5:00 AM with the headline "How will Troyer’s acquittal of criminal charges affect the civil lawsuit against him?."
