A Coaldale man walked out of the Schuylkill County Courthouse on Tuesday after a jury acquitted him of assaulting his ex-girlfriend during an argument in September 2011 at his home.
Robert C. Perrin, 47, is not guilty of simple assault, the jury ruled after deliberating less than an hour.
Judge John E. Domalakes, who presided over the one-day trial, also found Perrin not guilty of a harassment charge resulting from the same incident.
Coaldale police had alleged that Perrin assaulted Paula Sebling, Lehighton, on Sept. 7, 2011, in the defendant's 235 First St. residence.
Sebling broke down and wept, forcing Domalakes to call a recess, as she described what she said occurred in an argument she said started in the cellar and got worse in the kitchen.
"His eyes got really big. His face got red," Sebling testified. "He picked me up and he just threw me. I was just screaming and crying."
Coaldale police Patrolman Joseph F. Krebs, the prosecuting officer, testified that Sebling showed him the bruises and scratches on her body when he went to Perrin's home.
However, Perrin testified that Sebling was the one who lost control of herself because she was neither eating nor taking her medication, and that she threatened to smash his historically significant collection of Coaldale and Lansford glass bottles.
Also Tuesday, another jury deliberated less than an hour before finding Leo A. Leinheiser Jr., 41, of New Philadelphia, not guilty of receiving stolen property.
State police at Frackville had charged Leinheiser with receiving stolen property June 9, 2011.
In other county court action, a Pottsville man faces a prison term after a jury convicted him Thursday of participating in the theft of three items from Rent-A-Center.
Joseph R. Holland, 31, did not react as the jury of seven women and five men, after deliberating more than an hour, found him guilty of forgery, receiving stolen property and conspiracy.
Judge Cyrus Palmer Dolbin, who presided over the one-day trial, ordered preparation of a presentence investigation and said he would hold Holland's sentencing hearing within 60 days.
State police at Schuylkill Haven had charged Holland with possessing a 60-inch television, a 50-inch television and an Xbox game system, all of which had been stolen from Rent-A-Center, on Nov. 25, 2011, at his city apartment.
Jeffrey J. Dunkel, Mount Carbon, a Rent-A-Center employee, testified that he had visited the building where Holland lived a couple dozen times to try to learn who lived in Apartment 1, the address that had been given to Rent-A-Center.
State police Trooper Timothy J. Rymarkiewicz, the prosecuting officer, testified that the three items had been rented using the name of a woman who had reported her identity as stolen, and that he also visited the building with the same result as Dunkel.
"Apartment 1 appeared vacant," Rymarkiewicz said. "Nobody was living there."
On Wednesday, another county jury found Jason G. McNitsky, 39, of Schuylkill Haven, not guilty of two counts each of aggravated assault and simple assault and one each of resisting arrest and possession of drug paraphernalia.
However, Judge Jacqueline L. Russell, who presided over McNitsky's one-day trial, found the defendant guilty of disorderly conduct and sentenced him to serve 15 to 30 days in prison consecutive to his current sentence.
Schuylkill Haven borough police had charged McNitsky with assaulting two officers and resisting arrest on June 22 in the borough.