Former Hillsdale County Sheriff’s Department Sergeant Pleads Guilty to Assault of County Jail Inmate

LANSING – Today, Ronald Leggitt, 44, of Marshall, pled guilty to one count of Misconduct in Office, a 5-year felony, and one count of Aggravated Assault, a 1-year misdemeanor, for assaulting a county jail inmate under his supervision at the Hillsdale County Jail in December of 2021, announced Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel. As part of the plea, Leggitt, who was charged in March, has relinquished his MCOLES certification, a requisite for employment as a police officer in the state of Michigan. 

In the early morning hours of December 16th, 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 the arrest. At the jail, she continued to exhibit resistant and disruptive behavior. Over the course of 80 minutes, Leggitt assaulted the inmate six times with 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 assaults, the victim was secured in an emergency restraint chair, where she was restrained in wrist and ankle cuffs as well as a chest restraint. 

“With this conviction, Mr. Leggitt has been stripped of his ability to serve as a police officer in Michigan, preventing him from harming others who would have been under his authority,” Nessel said. “My Department remains committed to holding accountable those who abuse their positions.” 

Leggitt will be sentenced on January 29, 2025, before the Honorable John G. McBain Jr. in the 4th Judicial Circuit Court in Jackson County.

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