One of baseball's most popular stars of the 1980s and 1990s - former Minnesota Twins outfielder Kirby Puckett - was acquitted of sexual assault charges April 3.
Puckett had to wait twelve hours before his six-male, six-female jury found him not guilty of forcing a woman into a restaurant bathroom stall and groping her breasts hard enough to leave a bruise, according to the Associated Press.
The jury accepted the defense contention that Puckett had offered to escort her to the men's room because the women's room was too crowded, and that Puckett had merely offered her an arm as a gentleman, not to mention he couldn't possibly have groped her if he'd tried to because the space in the men's room wasn't big enough for a man of his bulky size to do it.
"I think justice was served today," Puckett told reporters after the verdict. "I think the jury listened to all the facts and I just want to go home." Prosecutors admitted after the verdict that they knew they were in for an uphill fight, the AP said.
Puckett's playing career was forced to an early end in 1996 when he developed glaucoma that has left him blind in his right eye. He was elected to the Hall of Fame in 2001 and worked as Twins executive vice president until last year. The team has always denied his legal troubles had nothing to do with his departure, though Puckett declined a different job in the organization.
Known as a genial and fan-friendly man during his playing days and afterward, Puckett's image also took a beating a year before the sex abuse case arose, thanks to a nasty divorce during which he was forced to deny allegations of violence and abuse.
