COOKEVILLE, Tenn. (AP) -A jury on Friday found Tennessee cornerback Marsalous Johnson not guilty of assault, after an off-duty sheriff's deputy said Johnson waved a gun at him while driving on the interstate.
When the deputy alerted on-duty officers and they pulled over Johnson's vehicle, they found a toy Uzi submachine gun under the passenger seat.
Johnson's case was postponed several times since the incident last July and finally went to trial in Putnam County Circuit Court. A jury found Johnson not guilty of simple assault, court clerk Marcia Borys said.
Johnson was originally charged with aggravated assault, but the charge was lowered to a misdemeanor in November and sent to a grand jury.
"I am really happy for Marsalous and his family. They have been through a lot of heartache and emotion through all of this," coach Phillip Fulmer said in a statement.
Johnson, a rising sophomore, was suspended for the first four games of last season as punishment for the arrest. He is projected to start at cornerback this season.
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