A Lebanon County man won his case Monday in Schuylkill County Court, as a jury acquitted him of two charges resulting from his alleged threat against a Pine Grove Township man.
Christopher J. Silsbee, 52, of Annville, did not react as the jury of seven women and five men found him not guilty of terroristic threats and harassment after deliberating about 1 1/2 hours.
Judge James P. Goodman, who presided over Silsbee’s one-day trial, found the defendant not guilty of a second charge of harassment.
Pine Grove police charged Silsbee with threatening Gary R. Shadle, 70, on May 28, 2015, in the borough.
“‘My name is Chris Silsbee. I’m going to kill you and Laura,’ ” is what the defendant said to him, Silsbee testified. “I sort of felt threatened. It’s not every day someone threatens to kill you.”
He denied that he and Laura Silsbee, the defendant’s estranged wife, were romantically involved.
Assistant District Attorney David J. Rice argued that the evidence showed Christopher Silsbee threatened Shadle, and that the defendant was arguing irrelevant issues.
“That’s the full story,” Rice said.
However, jurors accepted the closing argument of Robert J. Daniels Jr., Harrisburg, the defendant’s lawyer, who said Shadle and Laura Silfies did not act like and landlord and tenant, which they claimed to be, especially since Shadle did not charge her rent.
“If there was ever a case where there is reasonable doubt ... this is the one,” Daniels said.