Jury finds corrections officer Brian Tellier not guilty of assaulting inmate in 2023

ELYRIA — Jurors on Friday found suspended Lorain County corrections officer Brian Tellier not guilty of assaulting a Lorain County Jail inmate in his care more than two years ago. They also found him not guilty of lying about his actions on official reports. Jurors deliberated for about four hours over two days before finding Tellier, 36, not guilty of one count of felonious assault and two counts of tampering with records. The verdict came after a three-day trial in Common Pleas Judge Chris Cook's courtroom. Tellier, 36, of Elyria, hugged weeping family members who attended every day of his trial. He declined to comment on the verdict. Members of the jury also declined comment as they left the courthouse. Assistant Lorain County Prosecutor Paul Griffin referred all questions to his boss, elected Prosecutor Tony Cillo. Cillo said Friday that the case was worth trying. "You present the case and jurors make decisions," he said. "That's how the system works." Arrested on a probation violation by Elyria police and taken to the jail to be booked on May 12, 2023, Fry was handcuffed behind his back as Tellier escorted him to have a full-body scan for contraband. Inmates normally are handcuffed in front of their bodies, but two overhead doors on the sally port intake area and an external gate were broken. So jailers changed policy and handcuffed inmates from behind to make it more difficult for them to run. Testimony was that Fry was intoxicated, throwing his personal items around and belligerent with corrections staff. Video showed Fry pull his left arm out of Tellier's grasp. The defense alleged Fry was trying to make a break for the open sally port doors. Tellier then grabbed Fry and took him to the ground — "guided" was the language Tellier used in his report, language other jail staff and prosecutors criticized as inaccurate. When he fell to the ground Fry hit his head and suffered neck and spinal injuries. His attorneys in an ongoing civil suit allege that Tellier further harmed Fry when he tried to lift him and place him on a gurney after LifeCare paramedics arrived, but that was not part of the criminal charges. Tellier testified that Fry was injured due to an "unfortunate accident." His defense attorneys, George Gerken and Daniel Leffler of the Ohio Patrolmen's Benevolent Association, didn't dispute that Fry suffered serious physical harm but argued Tellier's use of force was justified. In his report on the incident, Tellier wrote that he put both hands on Fry's left and right shoulders. Video evidence showed that wasn't true. Tellier wrote that he tried to put Fry up against the wall but that Fry fell "from his stable platform ... and was guided to the floor." An internal policy investigation by corrections Lt. Mike Crum resulted in Tellier being found guilty of falsifying or assisting in falsifying any county record and physical mistreatment of a prisoner in an officer's custody or control. Tellier kept his job under then-sheriff Phil Stammitti for nearly 600 days, though Stammitti said he wasn't in contact with any inmates. Sheriff Jack Hall suspended Tellier when he took office in January. Hall's corrections inspector general, Ryan Kolegar, re-investigated the case and took it to a grand jury, which indicted Tellier on felony assault, tampering with records and tampering with evidence charges and a misdemeanor dereliction of duty charge. The tampering with evidence and dereliction of duty charges were dismissed during trial. Following the verdict, Leffler said it showed that jurors believed Tellier's use of force was reasonable under the circumstances. "The rule of law still works," said Leffler, adding that his client was happy to be going home. Fry, now 60, did not testify in court after the defense stipulated that he was seriously physically injured. He has a $40 million lawsuit pending against Tellier, Lorain County, Elyria and other defendants in federal court. Nick DiCello, an attorney representing Fry in the civil federal case, said his client respected the jury's decision and was grateful to the prosecutor's office for pursuing charges. The elements in the criminal case "are very different than the civil claims we are pursuing on Jeff's behalf," DiCello said. "Jeff feels confident his constitutional rights were violated, and that's not an issue that was decided in this court." DiCello said some of the testimony in the criminal trial confirmed the allegations in the civil case. "You can have a situation where someone violates someone's constitutional rights but is not convicted of a crime under Ohio law," he said. "The testimony from both Lorain County officials and from Brian Tellier himself we believe confirmed that this was excessive force in violation of Jeff's constitutional rights and we're confident we'll be able to prove that in federal court," DiCello said. Tellier is not done in Common Pleas Court, where he faces two counts of child endangering, one felony and one misdemeanor, in a criminal case brought by prosecutors and Elyria police. The Elyria Police Department said a 6-year-old boy in Tellier's care ingested a THC gummy in February and had to be taken to a hospital. A grand jury indicted Tellier in July. He pleaded not guilty and is free on bond with the next pretrial hearing scheduled for Dec. 15 in Cook's courtroom. Contact Dave O'Brien at (440) 329-7129 or dobrien@chroniclet.com.