PORT TOWNSEND — Richard Brees will get his day in court in Olympia on Monday.
Brees’ lawsuit against the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office and three of its deputies will be heard in the U.S. District Court at 10 a.m.
“After a year and a half of jumping through the hoops and going through the process with them, I am ready to go to court,” Brees said Wednesday.
Brees, who ran for sheriff and lost in 2006 against current Jefferson County Sheriff Michael Brasfield, said that the Sheriff’s Office violated his civil liberties when he was arrested for investigation of assault and malicious mischief on March 16, 2006.
The original request for damages filed on Oct. 10, 2006 by Brees asked for $5 million from the county.
Most of the allegations in the lawsuit resulted from an altercation Brees had with a neighbor on Embody Road.
The lawsuit states that Brees was arrested despite the fact that the parties involved had conflicting stories and no independent witnesses were on scene.
Brees was eventually acquitted of the charges in Jefferson County District Court.
Deputies also entered Brees’ home on April 19, 2006 and seized his computer as evidence of harassment of the same neighbor.
No evidence of threatening e-mails were found on his computer.
While the March incident occurred before Brees had officially declared his intent to run for office, he told the Peninsula Daily News in 2007 that at the time, his intent was public knowledge and the incident was a situation where he was being harassed for intending to run.
Brees also told the PDN that the actions taken against him were part of a “vendetta attitude” against those who criticize the Sheriff’s Office.
Brees has sued Jefferson County multiple times, receiving $30,000 in one of the settlements.
Brasfield defeated Brees in the election by 60 percentage points, securing a second term.
