In 2nd trial, pipeline worker not guilty in brawl death
NEWTON, N.J. (AP) – A Tennessee man has been found not guilty in the beating death of a fellow pipeline worker in New Jersey after a previous conviction was overturned.
The New Jersey Herald reports (http://bit.ly/1TuLNZe ) that Jacob Gentry was acquitted Thursday of aggravated manslaughter and endangering the welfare charges in the 2008 death of David Haulmark.
He was previously sentenced to 30 years in prison in the case, but an appeals court overturned his conviction last year after it found that the jury wasn’t given instructions to consider Gentry’s self-defense claim on aggravated manslaughter charges.
The 155-pound Gentry testified that the 235-pound Haulmark escalated a fistfight into a bigger brawl, leading Gentry to defend himself. He testified that he kicked him because he didn’t want him to get back up.
