Richard Sherman does not have to be at his first appearance in King County court today
Richard Sherman gets his first day in court, but he doesn’t have to be there.
The former Seahawks Super Bowl winner and iconic cornerback was scheduled to be in a King County Jail courtroom in Seattle Thursday afternoon at 2:30, according to a spokesman for the King County prosecuting attorney’s office.
Police in suburban Redmond arrested Sherman early Wednesday and booked him into jail on suspicion of felony burglary domestic violence at his in-laws’ home in Redmond.
According to Casey McNerthney, director of communications for the King County prosecuting attorney’s office, Redmond police wrote a “superform,” a document presented to the King County prosecutor detailing why officers arrested and jailed Sherman. At Thursday’s first court appearance, the prosecutor’s officer presents that superform reasoning document to a King County District Court judge.
A deputy prosecutor and Sherman’s defense attorney will debate the merits of the arrest. The judge then will determine at the first court appearance whether there is probable cause for the arrest.
Sherman is not required to be present at this first court hearing. He can waive his right to appear; an attorney can represent him.
It’s also expected the judge will make a bail determination at the hearing.
Much was made Wednesday of the King County Jail booking information stating “bail denied” for Sherman. McNerthney emphasized that is a standard term in these cases; the jail administrators put it on a booking document until a judge makes a determination on bail. Bail is not set or denied by a judge until a first court appearance, which typically happens the day after someone is booked into jail.
Sherman was booked into King County Jail at 6:08 a.m. Wednesday. That was after he received treatment at a hospital for what Redmond Police Chief Darrell Lowe said were “minor” injuries from the altercation that ensued when his officers informed Sherman outside the in-laws’ residence that they were arresting him. A K-9 unit was involved in assisting to control Sherman, Lowe said.
If the judge finds there is probable cause for Sherman’s arrest and jailing, that document from Redmond police detailing why they apprehended and jailed him is expected to become publicly available.
Again, Sherman has not been charged.
The King County prosecutor’s office will make the charging decisions, normally after a first court hearing.
Sherman is being held on suspicion of burglary. Lowe explained Wednesday that carries a domestic-violence component in this case only because of the relations of the person’s involved in Wednesday’s incident around 2 a.m. in Redmond. The chief said there is no evidence Sherman assaulted or was violent toward any family member or significant other.
Sherman allegedly tried to forcibly enter his in-laws’ home after what the Washington State Patrol said was a one-car accident involving his SUV at a construction site along eastbound Highway 520 in Redmond. A worker at the highway’s construction site made a 911 call just after 1 a.m. Wednesday about an SUV, which troopers soon found to be registered to Sherman, striking a barrier along the highway and sustaining what Lowe called “pretty significant” damage to the driver’s side.
Sherman faces possible misdemeanor charges of driving under the influence and hit and run from that incident, before the subsequent one alleged at the in-laws’ house about two miles away.
This story was originally published July 15, 2021 at 12:05 PM.
