May 15, 2023 at 4:24 p.m.
Grant files motion to serve sentence in local jail
According to the motion, filed May 8, Grant is currently serving his sentence in Marquette County.
Oneida County circuit judge Michael Bloom ordered the jail sentence, along with three years probation on the stalking count, on April 28, just over two months after an Oneida County jury found Grant, 36, guilty of one count of felony stalking and one count of misdemeanor disorderly conduct.
The jury chose to acquit Grant on several other stalking and disorderly conduct counts.
According to the criminal complaint, Grant was accused of calling a woman as many as 50 to 150 times a day and entering her home on multiple occasions after he had been asked to leave.
The complaint also alleged the former sergeant made statements such as "I am the law" and "OK, I am the (expletive) cops" when the woman would threaten to call law enforcement. Some of the episodes took place while Grant was on duty and in uniform working for the sheriff's office, according to trial testimony.
In the moton, defense attorney Aaron Nelson alleges the Oneida County jail is in "contempt of court" for causing Grant to be transferred to another jail, leaving him unable to travel to his job.
"Despite this court's order that Mr. Stetson (sic) serve his jail sentence in the 'Local Jail', i.e. the Oneida County Jail, Mr. Stetson (sic) has instead been shipped to a different county far away to serve his jail sentence in the Marquette County Jail. As a result of his transfer to the Marquette County Jail, Mr. Stetson (sic) has effectively been denied the Huber privileges ordered by this Court as he is unable to travel to his job given that he can only practice Huber privileges within the boundaries of Marquette County," the motion reads. "Due to the Oneida County Jail's disobedience of the Judgment of Conviction entered by this Court, Mr. Grant moves this Court to order his immediate transfer from the Marquette County Jail to the Oneida County Jail..."
A footnote clarifies that the motion is not a so-called post-conviction motion - although court records show Grant has indicated he intends to pursue post-conviction relief - but "deals strictly with the issue of the Oneida County Jail's alleged contempt of court."
The motion ends with a request that the court "stay" Grant's sentence pending a decision on the motion or, in the alternative, modify his sentence on count 14 (the disorderly conduct charge) to time served.
"It is clearly established that a sheriff can house an inmate in another county jail," Oneida County sheriff Grady Hartman wrote in response to a River News request for comment on the motion. "I have exactly the same arguments in this case that I had in the Jeremy Alquist case from 2021. I will let the attorneys argue it out in court but I stand by some very common sense reasons that I used when I came to this decision.
1) Stetson Grant was an employee here and knows our procedures and our safety and security measures.
2) Anything good or bad that happens to Stetson while housed in the Oneida County jail will have the look of impropriety to some in the public. I do not want our staff to be accused of misconduct in these scenarios.
3) Stetson Grant has arrested and had negative contact with some of the other inmates. I have a responsibility to look out for everyone's safety."
"I have not treated the court with contempt and the allegations by the defense attorney are quite outrageous," the sheriff added.
The Alquist case, which involved a request from an inmate to be transferred from the Oneida County jail to Florence County for the purpose of continued employment, remains pending before an appeals court in Wausau.
In that case, Alquist has argued he suffered "irreversible" damage (the loss of his job) after Hartman declined to fill out the necessary paperwork to have him transferred from the Oneida County jail to Florence County, closer to his home in Crystal Falls, Mich.
Alquist was ordered to serve a fourth-month jail sentence after pleading guilty to one count of child enticement and no contest to one count of attempting to use a computer to facilitate a child sex crime. He was arrested in Minocqua in June 2019 after arranging a meeting, via the internet, with a person he believed to be a 15-year-old female for the purpose of sexual activity.
According to the complaint, Alquist used the handle "Ride along" to online chat with a person he believed to be a 15-year-old female. However, he was actually communicating with a law enforcement officer conducting an Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) investigation.
According to court records, a hearing on Grant's motion is scheduled for 1:30 p.m. Thursday, May 18.
Heather Schaefer may be reached at [email protected].
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