After a two-hour bench trial, a Warsaw man was found not guilty of battering a woman.
Michael Jay Poe, 38, 513 N. Union St., Warsaw, was found not guilty of domestic battery, a class A misdemeanor; and domestic battery with a prior conviction, a level 5 felony.
Prior to the trial starting, Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Matt Buehler asked to dismiss an invasion of privacy charge initially filed against Poe, which the court agreed to do.
As this case was the only matter holding him in custody, Poe was released from the Kosciusko County Jail.
The trial was held in Kosciusko Superior Court II on Thursday.
On Jan. 8, a Warsaw Police Department officer responded to a domestic incident involving Poe.
According to court documents, a woman said Poe yelled at her, broke a bedroom door, and pushed her, causing her to fall on a bed. The responding officer noticed redness on the woman's chest and bruising to her inner right arm.
During opening statements, defense attorney Joseph Bauer argued the woman had been trying to get Poe arrested and that no physical acts took place.
Poe, the defense's sole witness, testified and said he never battered the woman, stating the woman always came up with reasons to call law enforcement on him. He said he believed the woman called 911 because she didn't like the way he spoke to her.
Poe further testified he was aggravated on Jan. 8 because he felt the woman was harassing him.
Buehler called three witnesses for testimony regarding the incident, the first being WPD officer Jeremy Rau, who spoke with the victim at the scene. Rau said the woman was visibly shaken. Four photos of the woman's alleged injuries were submitted as evidence to the court. One photo depicted redness on the woman's chest and another showed a bruise on her arm.
Since the incident in question occurred in January, Bauer asked Rau if it was possible the more pronounced pigments on the woman's skin were from the woman being outside in cold temperatures. Rau agreed this could be the case.
The woman testified after Rau and said she called 911 because she was fearful Poe would harm her. Prior to the battery, the woman said Poe had been missing for several days. When he returned to her home, Poe was agitated.
She said she locked her bedroom door with a knife since the lock didn't properly function and called law enforcement before Poe battered her. The woman heard Poe yelling until he eventually entered her bedroom. She alleged Poe grabbed her upper arms and got on top of her while she was on a bed.
Bauer asked the woman if she said anything in her 911 call about Poe battering her. The woman said she did not and also admitted to not fully remembering details of the incident. She argued the marks on her upper arms were from Poe and disagreed about the marks on her skin being due to the cold outdoor temperatures at the time.
The third witness Buehler called for testimony was Kosciusko County Sheriff's Office Deputy Tyler Stringfellow, who spoke with Poe at the scene. Stringfellow described Poe as being irate.
Bauer said both the victim and Poe presented conflicting stories with some similarities. He argued the woman added the story about Poe battering her after she called for assistance in order to force officers' hands in removing Poe from the area.
"Without the certainty of (the victim's) testimony, there is doubt," said Bauer.
Kosciusko Superior Court II Judge Torrey Bauer said due to the facts and circumstances, he wished the case would have gone to jury trial instead. He believed the presented evidence proved Poe was upset and angry, but that it could not be proven beyond a reasonable doubt Poe battered the woman.
He also said the presented photos of the woman's alleged injuries were not immediately apparent as those resulting from a battery.