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Jury acquits Washington man in JFK incident

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A Washington County jury acquitted a Washington man on all charges stemming from an incident in which police claimed he brought a handgun and knife to a confrontation with his ex-girlfriend at John F. Kennedy Catholic School last year.

The jury of 11 women and one man deliberated for about an hour Thursday before finding Andrew Kirby, 39, not guilty of two counts of possessing a weapon on school property and one count each of simple assault and terroristic threats.

Casey White, Kirby’s attorney during the three-day trial before Judge Gary Gilman, said after the jury delivered its verdict that the prosecution “was unable to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that my client possessed any weapon” at the school “or that the purported victim was in fact terrorized by my client or was the victim of simple assault.”

Assistant District Attorney Adam Yarussi, who prosecuted the case, couldn’t immediately be reached for comment Thursday afternoon.

City police filed charges against Kirby on Nov. 17, a day after he’d gone to the school at 111 W. Spruce St. during his daughter’s evening basketball practice.

Police said Kirby had had an argument with his former longtime girlfriend, Chalise Kestner, in the gymnasium, during which he allegedly produced a folding knife, opened it and told her she was not leaving with her phone.

She reportedly went to the foyer, said he was trying to kill her and asked for someone to call the police. She also reportedly grabbed Kirby by his sweatshirt as he tried to leave, saying he had a knife. He broke free and went to his vehicle.

Police reportedly found a 9mm handgun in Kirby’s waistband when they were dispatched there and encountered him outside.

White said the investigation in the case “was inadequate in the sense that there was no corroborating evidence.”

Aside from Kestner, White said no witness testified they had seen Kirby with a knife during the incident. One other witness did testify he’d seen the outline of what might have been a knife in the front pocket of Kirby’s hoodie, but Kirby testified that shape was caused by his keys, White added.

The handgun remained in Kirby’s vehicle when he went into the school, White said. “He never brought the gun onto school grounds,” the attorney said.

Surveillance video from cameras at the school showed Kirby “tried to remove himself from the situation and (Kestner) would not let him,” White said.

Kirby lost his job following his arrest, after which he spent six months in Washington County jail, White said.

Bond was initially set at $20,000, but that amount was raised to $500,000 in response to a motion by the district attorney’s office later in November.

In December, he posted bond but was jailed again that month when it was revoked because he violated the conditions of the pretrial services program by leaving his home one night to go to a neighbor’s and “misinformed” the adult probation office at the time the electronic home monitoring was attached that he was employed, according to court records.

Kirby was granted nominal bond of $1 in May based on provisions in the state rules of criminal procedure limiting pretrial detention to 180 days.

“Mr. Kirby just wants to put this whole entire ordeal behind him, move on and continue being a single father of two girls, just forget about this past year for the most part,” White said.

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