A judge on Thursday acquitted Kelsey Fitzsimmons, a former North Andover police officer, of pointing a gun at a fellow police officer who shot her after arriving at her home to serve a restraining order in June.
Judge Jeffrey Karp delivered his verdict in Essex Superior Court in Lawrence, where Fitzsimmons had opted for a bench trial on a sole count of assault with a dangerous weapon.
Karp said the case turned on the question of whether Fitzsimons aimed a gun at the officer who shot her, Patrick Noonan, as prosecutors alleged, or kept it pointed at herself, as she had testified.
“Under these circumstances, I am left with a reasonable doubt, and I am duty bound to find that the Commonwealth has not met its burden,†Karp said.
Fitzsimmons was seated between her attorneys, Timothy Bradl and Martha Coakley, who each took her hands in theirs as Karp announced his verdict, according to video from inside the courtroom by NBC10 Boston.
Karp said Fitzsimmons and Noonan were both credible witnesses on key points, an unusual circumstance that made the case difficult to decide.
“By and large, I found the testimony of Officer Noonan and Ms. Fitzsimmons to be credible on the material and relevant points,†he said. “In my experience, this is unusual and somewhat perplexing.â€
He noted that both accounts unfolded in a matter of seconds in a cramped doorway, complicating efforts to determine what exactly happened.
The judge rejected the prosecution's central argument that physical evidence made Fitzsimmons's version of the event impossible, specifically the presence of a round in the chamber of her gun.
“I disagree that the evidence reflected that the only way to chamber a round would have been to pull the slide under those circumstances,†Karp said.
Even if Fitzsimmons were mistaken or untruthful about how the gun was handled, Karp said that did not undermine her core claim that she never pointed the gun at Noonan.
“Even if I assume that Ms. Fitzsimmons lied about not racking the slide, it does not detract from the adamancy and credibility of her testimony that she never pointed the gun at Officer Noonan,†he said.
This breaking news story will be updated.
Nick Stoico can be reached at nick.stoico@globe.com. Travis Andersen can be reached at travis.andersen@globe.com.
