photo by: Kim Callahan/Journal-World

Dustin Ian Lane reacts to being acquitted on Tuesday, Nov. 5, 2024, in Douglas County District Court. At right is his defense attorney, Michael Clarke.

Douglas County prosecutors on Tuesday failed to convince a jury that a Lawrence man attempted to murder his pregnant wife during an argument in July.

Prosecutors also failed to prove that Dustin Ian Lane, 39, committed the crimes of attempted voluntary manslaughter, aggravated intimidation of a victim, intimidation of a victim and criminal restraint.

After deliberating for about two and a half hours Tuesday afternoon, the jurors found Lane guilty only of one misdemeanor count of violating a protection order, which Lane had readily admitted to as he testified in his own defense Tuesday morning; he had been ordered not to have any contact with his wife after the couple’s initial altercation but did so anyway a month later.

photo by: Kim Callahan/Journal-World

Dustin Ian Lane reacts to being acquitted on Tuesday, Nov. 5, 2024, in Douglas County District Court. At right is his defense attorney, Michael Clarke.

Lane, who has been in jail for nearly 90 days, reacted with smiles and grateful looks at his supporters in the gallery as Judge Sally Pokorny read off each “not guilty” verdict and then modified his $50,000 cash or surety bond to a $2,500 own-recognizance bond, which meant he would walk out of jail later Tuesday. His sentencing for the misdemeanor violation, which came with a finding of domestic violence, is scheduled for Nov. 12.

Lane’s wife, whom prosecutors Ricardo Leal and Jenna Phelps insisted Lane had tried to choke to death twice, testified for the defense that she did not remotely believe that Lane was trying to kill her.

“Absolutely not,” she said when Lane’s attorney, Michael Clarke, asked her the question. As the Journal-World has reported, Lane’s wife, despite her frantic call to 911 on July 21 claiming Lane had badly beaten her and was trying to murder her, largely refused to cooperate in the prosecution’s case.

When Clarke asked her if it was uncommon for her and Lane to argue and fight, she replied: “No, we’re married,” her tone suggesting the question was ridiculous.

The woman also indicated that she herself currently had a pending diversion case for battering Lane.

She called police photos of red marks on her head, shoulder and neck “just scratches” and indicated that she had no fractures, broken bones, cuts or bruises from the fight, which began after she discovered that he had been drinking and had purchased cocaine.

Although Lane testified that, while drunk, he pulled his wife’s hair, pushed her to the ground and backhanded her several times, the state had not charged him with battery — a more suitable charge, Clarke had argued from the outset — so the jury had no option to return a verdict based on those admissions of violence.

Lane said he retreated from the altercation when his wife started crying. He told the jury that it was “the first time I put hands on my wife,” a situation he said he could have avoided if he had not gone off the wagon that night after 26 months of sobriety.

“I messed up,” he admitted, but he said he never had murderous intent.

Lane’s attorney argued that the most complete account to the jury of that night came from Lane, not his wife, whose credibility regarding the dramatic 911 call he termed “iffy at best.”

“He was just telling it as it happened — the good, the bad and the ugly,” Clarke said of Lane’s testimony, noting to jurors during his closing argument that the state had asked Lane very few questions on cross-examination and chose not charge him with aggravated battery.

Lane’s trial is the second in the past week that has ended in acquittal. On Oct. 29, the Douglas County District Attorney’s Office tried to prove that a man had committed aggravated assault with a deadly weapon at a local grocery store, but jurors found the man not guilty in under 40 minutes.