HILLSDALE — Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel announced July 17 that Hillsdale County Sheriff’s Sergeant Ronald Leggitt will stand trial at an unknown date in the 1st Judicial Circuit Court for an alleged assault of an inmate at the Hillsdale County Jail.
Nessel said that Leggitt waived his rights to a preliminary examination hearing and was bound over to the 1st Judicial Circuit Court Wednesday, July 17 on six counts of assault with a dangerous weapon and one count of misconduct in office.
The alleged assault was committed against a detained inmate at the Hillsdale County Jail in December of 2021.
Hillsdale County Sheriff Scott Hodshire previously shed light on the incident.
Hodshire said that on Dec. 22, 2021 he was contacted by Michigan State Police Jackson Post Commander First Lt. Kevin Rod who advised him that his troopers witnessed excessive force being used by Leggitt against an inmate the troopers had lodged at the jail.
Hodshire said he then launched an internal investigation and reviewed the jail’s surveillance videos to determine if there was any evidence to support the troopers claims.
With evidence in hand, Hodshire next contacted the Michigan Sheriff’s Association's MISSION Team to formally investigate the matter as an independent investigative agency. Leggitt was placed on administrative (desk) duty during the investigation and after eight weeks the MISSION Team forwarded their findings to the Michigan Attorney General’s Office in February 2022.
Hodshire added that on March 13 of this year he was notified by the MISSION Team investigator that the AG’s office would be prosecuting Leggitt, and Leggitt was placed on unpaid administrative leave.
According to information released by Nessel’s office, in the early morning hours of Dec.16, 2021, a woman was brought into custody at the Hillsdale County jail, where Leggitt was supervising operations and staff.
Staff at the jail were informed the woman had resisted officers during her arrest and during the booking process at the jail she continued to exhibit resistant and disruptive behavior.
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It is alleged that over the course of 80 minutes Leggitt assaulted the inmate six times with an aerosol subject restraint, commonly known as mace or pepper spray, spraying the chemical irritant into her face from a distance of mere inches.
During five of the six alleged assaults, the victim was secured in an emergency restraint chair; restrained in wrist and ankle cuffs as well as a chest restraint.
Leggitt posted a $40,000 bond for his pretrial release and was ordered to not have any contact with the alleged victim in the matters nor possess any weapons while on pretrial release.
— Contact Reporter Corey Murray atcmurray@hillsdale.net or follow him on X, formerly Twitter: @cmurrayHDN.
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