Staff photo by Mathew Plamondon Cyrinus Morris and his attorney Theodore Lothstein embrace after hearing the verdict from the jury. Morris was acquitted of all nine assault charges stemming from an alleged incident on August 27, 2017.

NASHUA – The jury on Friday found Cyrinus Morris not guilty on all counts regarding charges claiming he “knowingly” and “recklessly”caused bodily injury with “extreme indifference to human life” against his former girlfriend at her South Nashua apartment in August 2017.

The jury reached the verdicts at about 11 a.m., after roughly two hours of deliberations during two days. They found Morris not guilty on all nine counts of assault; three counts of first-degree assault, four accounts of second-degree assault and two counts of simple assault.

Morris’s attorney, Theodore Lothstein, said the most telling outcome of the verdict was that not even the misdemeanor charges of simple assault came back as guilty.

“It’s significant that they found him not guilty of those too,” Lothstein said of the misdemeanors after the trial, “because that means, they didn’t find him guilty of so much as pushing her, nothing. They found him not guilty of every possible crime that arises out of this case.”

There was one count of attempted murder that was dropped a week prior to jury selection, and the evidence brought by the prosecution did little to prove to the jury that Morris, 49, of Dracut, Massachusetts, was guilty of any assault on the accuser.

First Assistant County Attorney Kent Smith declined to comment on the verdict.

The defense brought strong evidence, including testimony from Dr. Patrick Lee, who treated the accuser at Southern New Hampshire Medical center when she was admitted into the emergency room the night of the incident.

Lee, who testified Thursday, supported Morris’s case, saying there were no mentions in his medical report of defensive injuries, fractures, internal injuries or internal bleeding to the accuser. Lee’s testimony paired the testimony of the accuser’s neighbors, who said they neither saw, nor heard, any signs of a struggle or argument. One neighbor testified the only noises they heard throughout the day sounded like moving furniture. They did not hear any argument, otherwise.

According to Lothstein, Morris’s actions after the alleged assault also spoke strongly to his innocence. Morris accompanied the accuser in the ambulance to the hospital, while answering questions on the way, as well as spending hours answering police questions without asking for a lawyer or asking to leave. Morris also willingly gave up his cellphone to the authorities.

After an emotional reaction to the verdict, Morris was released from custody and spent time after the hearing with his family smiling, laughing and taking pictures outside the courthouse.

“Justice was done here,” Lothstein said repeatedly after the trial. “Justice was done here.”

Mathew Plamondon can be reached at 594-1244 or mplamondon@nashuatelegraph.com.

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