"Jerramy Stevens allegedly assaulted Hope Solo one day before married"

Jerramy Stevens, a former football player for the Huskies and Seahawks, was arrested early Monday morning at the home of his fiancee, soccer star Hope Solo, and later released. The couple still planned to get married Tuesday, according to reports.

By Mike Carter
Seattle Times staff reporter

A municipal court judge has ordered former Seahawks and University of Washington football player Jerramy Stevens released from custody pending an investigation into whether he assaulted his fiancee, Hope Solo.

Solo is a two-time Olympic gold medal-winning soccer player who played for Washington. The incident being investigated happened a day before they were reportedly married Tuesday.

Stevens, whose football career flamed out amid a long list of run-ins with the law, was arrested early Monday morning after police found him on the floor between a bed and the wall in an upstairs bedroom after a disturbance at Solo's Kirkland home. Police reported that Stevens "appeared to be hiding," but he told officers he was sleeping.

Police were summoned to the home by Solo's brother, Marcus Solo, who had a fresh black eye and bloody knees when he met officers, according to a Kirkland police report.

Hope Solo had a fresh half-dollar-sized scrape on her elbow, the report said. She refused to tell officers how she had received the injury, according to the report.

Police said she and her brother claimed "two or three" strangers had shown up at a party uninvited, and had caused the trouble.

However, Hope and Marcus Solo gave vague and conflicting details of the men, and Hope Solo reportedly told her brother to shut up several times, according to the report.

Stevens, who turned 33 on Tuesday, and Solo, 31, had applied for a marriage license in King County last Thursday and were set to get married Tuesday, KING-TV reported. According to the station and reports by KJR-950 radio, the couple went through with their wedding despite Stevens' arrest. Those reports couldn't be confirmed.

Stevens was jailed after the incident, but during a hearing Tuesday, Kirkland Municipal Judge Michael Lambo ordered him unconditionally released from custody at the request of his attorney, Todd Maybrown. Lambo said police had not established sufficient cause to hold Stevens.

The Kirkland City Attorney's Office had asked that Stevens be held for 72 hours while the investigation was completed.

Hope Solo attended the hearing with her attorney, Peter Offenbecher, but left without speaking to reporters. She didn't return a phone call from The Seattle Times.

Maybrown said Tuesday the judge released his client "because there is no evidence he committed any crime at all, or that (Solo) had been assaulted."

Maybrown accused Kirkland police of "jumping to conclusions" because of Stevens' reputation.

"If they'd have taken a minute to think, they would have seen there was no reason to arrest him at all," Maybrown said.

Kirkland police were dispatched to Hope Solo's home at 3:45 a.m. Monday on a call that about eight people were fighting and that someone had used a stun gun, according to the report.

Police contacted Marcus Solo, 34, and then a few moments later, his sister.

Inside the home, they found another woman on the floor in the kitchen, apparently suffering from a hip injury, and then found Stevens upstairs. He said he and Hope Solo had argued over whether they would be living in Florida or Washington after their wedding.

The investigating officer observed drops of blood and signs of a fight or struggle in the bedroom. Stevens had a smear of dried blood on his shirt and blood on his cheek, according to the police report.

"Stevens said that (he) thought the blood on his cheek appeared when Hope kissed him," the officer wrote.

The officer noted in his affidavit for probable cause for arrest that he arrested Stevens based on his admission that he argued with Hope Solo, the injury to her elbow, signs of a fight in the bedroom where Stevens was found and blood on Stevens' shirt.

The incident has been referred to the Kirkland Police Department's Domestic Violence Unit for follow-up, police said.

Stevens' numerous troubles with the law date to his high school days in Lacey.

As a senior at River Ridge High School in 1998, Stevens faced a felony assault charge that was downgraded to a misdemeanor, which allowed him to keep his football scholarship at the UW.

As a sophomore at Washington, he was arrested for investigation of sexual assault but never charged. As a junior in 2001, he was cited for reckless driving after crashing into a retirement home and fleeing the scene.

Drafted by the Seahawks with the 28th pick in 2002, he was arrested for DUI one year later. He pleaded down to reckless driving.

He had his best NFL season in 2005, when he started a career-high 12 games and had 45 receptions as the Seahawks won the NFC championship.

He was arrested in Arizona in 2007 and later convicted of extreme DUI. His blood alcohol content was measured at twice the legal limit more than two hours after he was pulled over.

He was signed by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers that same year. The Bucs released Stevens in October 2010 after he was arrested on a felony charge of marijuana possession with intent to sell and possession of drug paraphernalia.

Solo, a Richland native, is a former UW soccer star and two-time Olympic gold medalist. She's also a former contestant on television's "Dancing with the Stars."

She publicly battled with then-U.S. coach Greg Ryan after he benched her in September 2007 during the Women's World Cup.

Solo also raised eyebrows during this summer's London Olympics when she went on a Twitter rant against former player Brandi Chastain, who criticized a member of the U.S. team during the broadcast of a match.

Mike Carter: 206-464-3706 or mcarter@seattletimes.com.

Seattle Times news researcher Miyoko Wolf, staff reporter Joshua Mayers and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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