A jury acquitted on misdemeanor assault and battery charges a U.S. officer accused of groping a woman while he was head of the Air Force's sexual assault prevention in a case that embarrassed the Pentagon last May. Lieutenant Colonel Jeffrey Krusinski smiled slightly and spoke with his attorney after the verdict was returned on Wednesday by the jury of five men and two women in the two-day trial in Arlington County Circuit Court. Police have said Krusinski was drunk when he approached a woman in a parking lot near the Defense Department headquarters in May. The woman testified on Tuesday that Krusinski grabbed her buttocks and breasts in an unprovoked attack, prompting her to defend herself. On Wednesday, restaurant worker Rene Miranda, who saw part of the confrontation from the window of a nearby bar where he was relaxing with friends, testified for the defense that he looked outside and saw a woman hit a man with a cell phone and the man did not respond with violence.

More...