NASHUA – A man whose first-degree assault conviction last summer was tossed because of jury misconduct has been acquitted in a retrial.

Angel “Chino” Santos was found not guilty Friday by a Hillsborough County Superior Court jury. Santos was charged with stabbing a drug dealer’s friend during a September 2010 invasion of a Calais Street residence.

Santos, 21, of Nashua, was convicted of the assault in July. However, Judge Jacalyn Colburn in late September tossed out the conviction and declared a mistrial after discovering a juror had researched information about Santos outside of the trial – a clear violation of permissible juror conduct, according to the Hillsborough County attorney.

Colburn also presided over the retrial.

Kristin Weberg, a public defender who represented Santos in both trials, said her client was acquitted the second time around based on the weakness of the evidence against him.

“The jurors really paid attention to the evidence and listened to the witnesses, and did their job,” she said. “I’m pleased Angel is able to go home to his family.”

Santos had been incarcerated for 16 months after his arrest, Weberg said. His parents attended both trials.

The assistant Hillsborough County attorney who prosecuted Santos couldn’t be reached Monday for comment.

Santos faced up to 15 years in prison after a jury found him guilty of stabbing Taylor Whiting at 117 Calais St. around 2 a.m. on Sept. 5, 2010. Whiting survived the stabbing but might have died if he had not received immediate medical attention, prosecutors said.

Prosecutors argued that Santos had accompanied one drug dealer into the home as a preemptive strike against threats made by another drug dealer. Defense attorneys, however, said another man could have wielded the knife during a struggle inside the residence.

Todd Lockwood, the drug dealer who allegedly was the target of the home invasion, died in a car crash on Nov. 14 in Deering. A tape of Lockwood’s testimony from the first trial was introduced as evidence in the retrial.

Patrick Meighan can be reached at 594-6518 or pmeighan@nashuatelegraph.com.