NORTH HERO, Vt. (WCAX) – A Jury Thursday afternoon began deliberations in the retrial of Franklin County Sheriff John Grismore, as he tries to clear his name of an assault charge.
After four days of testimony, the Grand Isle jury got the case around 3:30 p.m.
Grismore was charged with simple assault for kicking shackled inmate Jeremey Burrows in 2022, when he was a captain with the department. The state calls it a case of simple assault, pointing to the fact that Grismore was not in uniform and could have used other means of getting Burrows to comply. Grismore has always maintained that he did nothing wrong and that he was helping less experienced officers get a situation under control.
”I think it was very consistent with what we are trained in terms of reasonable force,” Grismore testified Thursday. “I don’t think I did anything wrong here.”
Grand Isle State’s Attorney Doug Disabito asked if he could have used more de-escalation tactics and why he didn’t identify himself as law enforcement. ”Did you ever identify yourself to Burrows as a law enforcement officer?”
Sheriff John Grismore: I did not.
Grand Isle State’s Attorney Doug Disabito: Did you have a uniform on?
Sheriff John Grismore: I did not.
Grand Isle State’s Attorney Doug Disabito: Did you have a badge on?
Sheriff John Grismore: I did not.
In Grismore’s first trial in July, it took the jury less than four hours to come to the conclusion that they could not come to a unanimous decision.