Jury acquits Pierce County man whose rights were violated in South Hill assault arrest

A Pierce County man who was subjected to a warrantless arrest by Sheriff’s Department deputies apprehending him as an assault suspect has been acquitted.

Jeremiah Lee Connors was charged last year in Pierce County Superior Court with first-degree assault for allegedly beating a man with a piece of rebar Aug. 13 at a business southeast of Puyallup. He also faced charges of second-degree attempted murder, first- and third-degree assault for trying to stab a deputy who moved to arrest him.

The attempted stabbing occurred inside a trailer Connors had been living in, and prosecutors noted that deputies Ernest Cedillo and Brent Tulloch arrested him without a warrant. Prosecutors questioned the legality of the arrest in a memo filed days after Connors was charged. Body-camera footage showed that Cedillo grabbed Connors by the shirt and moved inside after the man told them multiple times to return with a warrant.

The court dismissed charges related to Connors’ scuffle with deputies in April after his attorney from the Department of Assigned Counsel, Eric Trujillo, submitted a motion arguing that deputies’ actions were illegal and that it was law enforcement’s violent actions that caused Connors to react the way he did.

He still faced prosecution for the rebar incident. Last Thursday, two days after the trial got underway, jurors found him not guilty of assault. Connors was released from custody. Court records indicate he spent about 9 months in Pierce County Jail.

His attorney said Thursday his client was relieved that the ordeal was behind him. In a brief phone call, Trujillo said Connors’ arrest did not come up during the trial. He and prosecutors submitted motions to exclude it from the proceeding.

The court received one question from the jury during deliberations. According to court filings, jurors said they couldn’t establish whom the initial aggressor was, and they asked if that meant the defense’s self-defense claim could be considered. The court advised them to review their jury instructions.

Trujillo was hesitant to say what he thought convinced the jury Connors wasn’t guilty.

“The jury was instructed on self-defense, and I think that’s what they were hanging their hat on as far as Mr. Connors’ actions,” the attorney said.

The alleged assault stemmed from ongoing issues between Connors and a 49-year-old man working at RC Custom Concrete, according to police reports and court records. Connors, 41, is the nephew of the business owner, who was reportedly letting him stay in a travel trailer on the same property. Connors accused the worker of stealing his food from the shop refrigerator, and eventually the dispute turned physical.

Connors put the worker in a headlock, the man told deputies, and the worker brought Connors to the ground, where he allegedly grabbed a four-foot piece of rebar. The worker said he was struck in the head, shoulders and face multiple times. He declined medical attention and told deputies he’d had worse wounds before.