A Columbia man has been found not guilty of charges that he held two acquaintances hostage in August.
A Howard Circuit Court jury of nine women and three men deliberated about three hours Thursday night before acquitting Thomas Richard Catterton Jr., 37, of the 9600 block of Lambeth Court of all charges against him.
Mr. Catterton was charged with two counts of reckless endangerment, three counts of assault and one count of battery in an Aug. 11 incident in which he got into a fight with his roommate while a friend was visiting.
During the fight, Mr. Catterton said, his roommate killed his Amazon parrot and dumped his tank of tropical fish into a pond where they were eaten by larger fish.
Howard County police officers testified at the trial that when they arrived at the house, Mr. Catterton pointed a .357-caliber Magnum handgun at them and fired the weapon while inside.
But Mr. Catterton testified that he didn't hold the two people hostage. He said officers first made light of the situation and he showed them the gun to prove that the altercation was serious.
Mr. Catterton testified that he fired the gun into an empty chair so his roommate would back away from him while police officers waited outside their house.