Judge Acquits Kent State Guardsmen

Eight former members of an Ohio National Guard unit were acquitted Friday (November 8th) of shooting student demonstrators during a anti-war demonstration at Kent State in May of 1970.

U.S. District Judge Frank Battisti ordered the acquittal of the Guardsmen, saying that evidence presented by the government during a two-week trial was insufficient to prove that the defendants intended to deprive anyone of their civil rights, as charged in Federal indictments.

Four students were killed and nine wounded when Guardsmen fired into a crowd demonstrating against Nixon's decision to extend the Vietnam war by sending troops into Cambodia.

In acquitting the defendants, Judge Battisti said that they would be open for prosecution on the state level if the state decides to pursue the case.

Ohio Attorney General William Brown refused to speculate on the possibility of the state undertaking any criminal prosecution against the Guardsmen.