PORT TOWNSEND — A district court jury found Richard Brees not guilty of third-degree assault and fourth-degree malicious mischief Tuesday.
Brees, who faced the misdemeanor charges stemming from a March 16 altercation with his Port Ludlow neighbor, Bill Thayer, said he’ll continue his campaign for sheriff as planned.
Brees, a Republican, is running against Democratic incumbent Mike Brasfield in the Nov. 7 general election,
“I was innocent,” Brees said Tuesday evening following the verdict which was announced at about 7:30 p.m.
“I’ve always been innocent.
“I think my image has been damaged, but I think this goes a long way to clear it up.”
Jurors meet again on Thursday to decide if Brees acted in self-defense.
If they decide he did, the county will have to pay for Brees’ attorney fees.
Deputy Prosecuting Attorney John Raymond said he couldn’t comment on the case until the jury decides this piece of the trial that is ongoing.
Brees said he is in the process of filing a lawsuit against the sheriff’s office and Jefferson County to seek damages for a search warrant of his home carried out Aug. 19 that Brees calls a “home invasion.”
Different versions
The six jurors in the one-day trial heard different versions of the events of March 16 that landed Brees in Jefferson County Jail overnight and put a dirty shoe print on the front of Thayer’s white T-shirt.
Both Deputy Prosecuting Attorney John Raymond and Brees’ defense attorney Richard Davies agreed the shoe print was Brees’.
But how it got there was left up to debate.