Dustin Diamond Is Found Not Guilty of Reckless Endangerment
He was found guilty of carrying a concealed weapon and of disorderly conduct.
— -- After a three-day trial, a Wisconsin jury found actor Dustin Diamond not guilty of a felony.
According to the verdict, which was announced late Friday, Diamond was found not guilty in the first count of reckless endangerment stemming from a barroom altercation that took place last year. He was found guilty of carrying a concealed weapon and of disorderly conduct, both of them misdemeanors.
The first misdemeanor carries a sentence of up to nine months in prison, while the second misdemeanor carries a sentence of 90 days imprisonment.
Diamond's girlfriend, Amanda Schutz, was found guilty of disorderly conduct.
“We’re happy with the results, we think that justice has been done," said Diamond's lawyer Thomas Alberti. "The jury did a good job.”
The former child star, had been accused of stabbing a 25-year-old man in a bar in Milwaukee on Christmas Day. He pleaded not guilty to recklessly endangering public safety.
Diamond, 38, testified on Friday that Schutz had been involved in an altercation with a group of people and he was just trying to protect her. While he admitted that he did have a pocket knife, he said he only showed it to the people fighting with Schutz as an intimidation tactic.
"I was fearing for her safety and her life," he said. "I think [the victim] injured himself when he grabbed me."
The man who was stabbed, Casey Smet, testified earlier in the week, and said that he never saw the knife and could not confirm that Diamond had stabbed him. In fact, he said, he didn't realize he'd been stabbed until afterward when he was talking to police.
"Before the altercation, I was not bleeding or stabbed," he said on the stand. "After the altercation, I was."
The Associated Press contributed to this story.