Schmidt was charged by the Attorney General’s office of trying to dispose of case files in his final weeks as Lancaster Commonwealth’s Attorney after he lost a hotly contested bid for re-election in November 2011.

After four hours of testimony from eight witnesses for the prosecution, Judge Pustilnik granted a defense motion to strike without the defense putting on a case.

“I can’t find any way, shape or form...that he did anything wrong. Nothing proved bad behavior,” the judge said.

More on the trial will be in the March 14 Rappahannock Record.