Rachel Hoffman/St. Joe Now

Joshua Blinde reacts after hearing a Buchanan County jury find him innocent on assault charges Friday.

Emotions overflowed into a scuffle after a jury found Joshua Blinde innocent of intentionally assaulting a 2-year-old girl.

Ava Martinez’s father Brad Whitford twice yelled “You’ll go to (expletive) hell,” Friday morning as he tried to advance toward Mr. Blinde. He was held back by family members and two courtroom bailiffs, who were joined by other deputies and police detectives to wrestle Mr. Whitford out of the courtroom.

Mr. Blinde, 28, stood unfazed during the confrontation. He sobbed quietly afterward as he embraced his attorneys and family while waiting for the OK to leave the courtroom.

“Stay away from those people, will you?” his attorney Patrick Berrigan told him.

Mr. Blinde was given a security escort as he left the courthouse a free man.

After deliberating for almost seven hours, a jury made up of nine women and three men didn’t find sufficient evidence to find him guilty on either first- or second-degree assault charges for injuries Ava suffered on Feb. 14, 2006. He faced possible life in prison, if found convicted.

Mr. Blinde testified that Ava fell off a 30-inch sink when he left her alone in the bathroom to get a diaper from her room. He maintained the fall was an accident that occurred just 11 days before he was to wed Ava’s mother.

In the two-week trial, his defense attorneys brought a chorus of medical experts to testify that her injuries were from the short fall.

Prosecutors alleged that Ava’s severe brain injuries were caused not only by the fall, but by Mr. Blinde severely and violently shaking the child.

Following the verdict on Friday, Buchanan County Prosecutor Dwight Scroggins met privately with the Martinez family. He also escorted Mr. Whitford out of the courthouse. No charges are expected against him.

Dejected, Mr. Scroggins said child abuse trials take a difficult toll on any prosecutor. He was disappointed by the verdict, but said that he felt worse for Ava’s family.

“Now the family does what they can do to care of Ava,” Mr. Scroggins said of the now-5 year old girl who is wheelchair-bound and has diminished mental capacity.

“I think the greatest injustice in this case is just that it took two and a half years to get to this point,” Mr. Scroggins said.

Ahmad Safi can be reached at ahmadsafi@npgco.com.