- Jun 8, 2000
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Puckett found not guilty
Jay Weiner, Star Tribune
Published April 4, 2003 PUCK04
Twins Hall of Famer Kirby Puckett was found not guilty of all charges against him today in Hennepin County District Court.
Jurors in the trial of former Twins star Kirby Puckett announced about 3 p.m. that they had reached a verdict, and the verdict was read about 4 p.m.
The jury considering the sexual assault charges against Puckett had begun its second day of deliberation in Minneapolis this morning.
The six men and six women jurors, who sat through four days of testimony in the courtroom of District Judge Stephen Swanson, arrived at the Hennepin County Courthouse at about 9:40 a.m. today, after being spending Wednesday night at a Minneapolis hotel. They deliberated for five-and-a-half hours Wednesday afternoon and evening.
About a half hour after arriving this morning, the jury's forman, Ronald A. Cottone, sent a note to Swanson. It read in part: "the Jury needs to know the legal definition of intention as in 'intentionally inflicted or attempted to inflict bodily harm.' "
This question apparently refers to the 5th degree assault charge against Puckett.
About an hour later, at 11:15 a.m., Swanson answered the jury's question with a certain amount of legalese. Swanson said, " 'Intentionally' means that the actor either has a purpose to do the thing or cause the result specified, or believes that the act performed by the actor, if successful, will cause the result."
The jurors then returned to their deliberations at 11:18 a.m., then took a lunch break around 1 p.m.
In closing arguments earlier Wednesday, Assistant Hennepin County Attorney Alan J. Harris urged the jury to find Puckett guilty on all charges and render "equal justice, not celebrity justice."
But defense lawyer B. Todd Jones remind the jurors that Puckett's fame shouldn't alter the basic criminal case principle: "Not perhaps, not maybe, not could have, not it depends," he said. "Proof beyond a reasonable doubt," is the standard they had to use to come to their verdicts.
Puckett, 43, of Bloomington, was charged with false imprisonment, a felony, fifth-degree criminal sexual conduct, a gross misdemeanor, and fifth-degree assault, a misdemeanor.
He was accused of dragging a 34-year-old woman into a men's room at the Redstone American Grill in Eden Prairie, at about 12:30 a.m. on Sept. 6, 2002. The woman said he pushed her into a toilet stall and grabbed her right breast.
Puckett denied all that and testified that he was merely escorting her into the restroom. He denied assaulting her in there, and said she exited the restroom after finding one stall occupied and another dirtied with vomit.
Puckett was an on-the-field hero of the Twins two World Series championship teams in 1987 and 1991. He was selected as the Star Tribune's most significant sports figure of the 20th Century by a poll of experts.
Puckett recently made headlines because of a very public divorce from his wife, Tonya. In that case, there were allegations of domestic abuse and threats.
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