The criminal case against Franklin County Sheriff John Grismore will be dismissed after a jury last week failed for a second time to reach a verdict in his assault trial.
Grand Isle County State’s Attorney Doug DiSabito said on Monday that he was dropping the case against Grismore because it didn’t make sense to try him again for kicking a shackled detainee in 2022. DiSabito said he would dismiss the case “with prejudice,” meaning that charges cannot be reinstated at a later date.
The decision follows two jury trials, one in July and another this month, that both resulted in hung juries, forcing Superior Court Judge Samuel Hoar to declare mistrials.
DiSabito said he still believed that Grismore was “guilty beyond a reasonable doubt” and there was evidence to prove as much, but he would not present that evidence to a third jury.
“After any mistrial, I review a case and evaluate all the circumstances and decide whether another trial is a good use of public resources and is in the interests of justice,” DiSabito said in a statement. “I did that here and have determined that a third trial is not in the public interest.”
Grismore was caught on video kicking a detained man in the groin twice in August 2022, before he was elected sheriff. The Vermont Criminal Justice Council later voted to decertify Grismore as a law enforcement officer due to what it concluded was an excessive use of force.
DiSabito said that if the council had not taken “this definitive action,” the right thing to do would have been to hold a third trial.
“That will not be happening. This case is now closed,” he wrote.
Grismore has remained defiant throughout the criminal cases and the effort to impeach him.
His attorney, Robert Kaplan, issued a statement on Monday saying Grismore “recognizes that the controversy over his use of force on August 7, 2022 has evoked strong emotions in the societal debate over police use of force.”
The “differences in perspective” about use of force by police officers will likely prevent a jury from reaching agreement about his actions, Kaplan wrote.
“Sheriff Grismore is grateful that the State’s Attorney has exercised his discretion to dismiss the case and to allow all involved parties, and the community, to move on,” he wrote.
The Vermont House of Representatives initiated impeachment proceedings against Grismore last year but opted not to bring charges against him in a Senate trial. They did so in part because Grismore’s actions preceded his time in office and impeachment is generally reserved for crimes committed while in office.
Franklin County voters were aware of Grismore’s actions and voted him into office anyway. A legislative effort to make it easier for lawmakers to remove elected officials from office for misconduct also sputtered.
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