Pierce County Sheriff Ed Troyer’s wife will not testify as trial enters second week
Dec 6, 2022, 6:33 AM
Photo from KIRO 7
Pierce County Sheriff Ed Troyer’s wife will not be added to the defense’s witness list in his trial.
Troyer is accused of falsely reporting that Sedrick Althemier, a Black newspaper carrier, tried to kill him. Altheimer says Troyer is lying and that he was working his paper route, minding his own business on the morning of Jan. 17, 2021.
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The second week of the trial kicked off with testimony from six witnesses, the majority of whom are local law enforcement officers. Darren Steiner, who runs the newspaper distribution company that has employed Altheimer since 2016, also spoke.
The defense raised questions with everyone, but really went after South Sound 911 dispatcher Leah Heiberg. Troyer’s attorney, Anne Bremner questioned if Heiberg had overreacted.
According to Heiberg, she was on the graveyard shift when Troyer’s call for help came in.
“All I heard was that someone was threatening to kill Troyer,” said Heiberg. “Initially, I was shocked. Calls like this happen, they do happen, it’s just not very common.”
Heiberg activated a warning that alerted more than 40 officers from over a dozen area agencies.
“Only one or two units were requested by Sherriff Troyer,” said Bremner.
After witness testimony wrapped and the jurors went home, there was a debate over whether Troyer’s wife should be added to the witness list.
They wanted her to testify about a separate encounter with Altheimer that supposedly happened a month before the Jan. 17 blowup.
The defense argues that Altheimer dropped a newspaper off on Troyer’s back porch in the middle of the night. They claim that action can help prove Altheimer had a grudge against the sheriff.
The state pushed back, saying it was a blatant attempt to stain the newspaper carrier’s image.
“What’s going on is they want to paint him as some kind of scary prowler, some menacing person that not only Mr. Troyer, but the jury should be afraid of.”
Altheimer is set to testify on Tuesday.
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