After a deliberation of just one and a half hours, with "Lunch included," the 12 man jury in the case found Nalan not guilty.

In a case that took more than a week, jurers said that the state did not prove its case.

After the prosecution rested their case on the fifth day of trial, the defense, comprised of public defender Eric Hedland, moved for an acquittal, saying the state hadn’t proven its case. The Juneau Superior Court Judge denied the motion.

The case stemmed from an incident that occurred at Nalan’s home on Glacierwood Drive, where during a night of drinking, John “JD” Duran was shot in the face with a .357 pistol. Duran survived the shooting but had to undergo reconstruction surgury to his face.

There were three people present at the time of the shooting, the shooting victim, Duran and John Day. Duran testified in court that he doesn’t remember what happened, saying that it could be because the shooting has affected his memory. John Day, for his part, said that he was too intoxicated to remember much of anything.

This left only Nalan to tell of how the events may have carried out that night.

Nalan testified in court that he had only known the gunshot victim, Duran, for a short while and had only met him on three previous occasions. He said to the court, that on the night of the shooting, he heard someone yell loudly and turned to find Duran with Nalan’s revolver in his hand. According to his testimony, Duran removed the gun from the closet. Nalan said Duran knew where the pistol was kept as he had been present when it was put there when Nalan initially got it from a co-worker.

Nalan recounted in court how he had become concerned as the evening progressed because Duran had told Day that he had robbed and killed someone before, and had been demonstrating kill points to Day. As they moved from the kitchen to the bedroom, Nalan said that Duran pushed him as they were moving down the hallway.

When Nalan saw that Duran had the weapon, Nalan described to the court the actions that took place next. Using a recreation of the scene, set up for the jury, that consisted of tape outlines of the contours of the room and an armoire and even Nalan’s guitar, Nalan showed the jury how he jumped up, skirted the bed and went for the gun in Duran’s hand.

Nalan demostrated how the tug of war took place with the loaded and cocked weapon. “Both of us have all our hands on the gun … There was a tug-of-war out in front of this dresser, and eventually I got — the gun broke loose,” Nalan said, wrestling the imaginary gun from Hedland, his attorney.

During the scuffle, Duran fell forward, said Nalan. He said he was falling at the same time backwards, he said that is when the weapon discharged striking Duran in the face.

As Duran got up after the incident, Nalan told the listeners, he and Day helped Duran outside to the porch, where they placed him on his side to keep him from choking on his blood. Nalan said that he held a towel to Duran’s face to try and stop the bleeding until the paramedics arrived.

“I can remember him choking on his own blood, I will never forget that for the rest of my life.” Nalan said.

If convicted, Nalan could have been sentenced to a prison term of up to 20 years, but instead, Nalan left the courthouse with his wife.