BUENA VISTA (WSLS 10) - A judge dropped an assault charge against Buena Vista City Superintendent Dr. John Keeler on Thursday.
The charge was filed after an argument during a meeting between the superintendent and the Transportation Manager John Butler on August 25, 2016.
“I absolutely do not think there was enough evidence for an assault,” said Defense Attorney William Hancock.
Judge Gordon Saunders agreed.
The assault charge against Keeler was dropped after hearing only four out 16 witnesses who were subpoenaed to court Thursday.
One of those witnesses was bus driver Robert Gaye who was a third-party witness to the closed-door meeting Butler and Keeler had during the altercation.
Butler said he felt threatened by Keeler's response to a question about the change of a bus route that was asked at the end of the transportation meeting on August 25.
Witnesses testified that Butler showed concern over the change because it cost extra money due to lower enrollment in the bus routes.
Hancock said in his opening statement that Keeler felt this was a show of disrespect to his position in the manner Butler asked.
One witness described Keeler's response as "in a rage."
After the question was asked, Keeler allegedly shouted at Butler "Get in that office," signaling to discuss the matter privately. Butler asked for a witness to be present during the closed-door meeting.
In a formal grievance to the school board, Butler stated he was verbally abused. The defense called into question why Butler didn't file the assault charge until August 29.
Butler responded that all city offices were closed on Friday and that he was unable to make the formal complaint until a meeting with the school resource officer after he formally filed the grievance.
"I thought that was the proper process," Butler said.
In court, he said he was fearful of an attack. Hancock asked Butler during his testimony why he didn’t leave the room if he felt threatened.
“I backed away (from Keeler),” Butler responded.
While all witnesses, including Butler, said that Keeler never made a verbal or physical attempt to do physical harm to Butler, he said he felt that due to his manner and body language that he felt fear.
Deputy Commonwealth Attorney John Alexander said it doesn’t take a physical attack to meet the threshold for assault.
"To assault somebody, you don't necessarily have to touch them. An assault can be a threat or an offer of harm, and when you are that angry and that physically close to somebody, it can be interpreted that way,” Alexander said.
A threshold Alexander said was an uphill battle to prove, but worth trying.
"It was a close case, there is no question about that. A judge made the decision that it didn't rise to that level. I certainly think it was sufficient to try the case and have all of the evidence heard,” Alexander said.
The judge; however, stated that while Butler said he was fearful, the evidence didn’t support that assault actually occurred either verbally or physically.
"Fear is not enough to meet assault," Saunders said during his ruling.
The defense's motion to dismiss the charge was ultimately granted.
“Two grown men having a heated conversation, which was all this was, does not constitute an assault. If it did, every parent, every football coach in this country would have been guilty of assault in their lives,” Hancock said.